Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, a grassroots non-profit organization that was formed in Palo Alto by concerned Computer Professionals, is turning twenty this year.

At its core CPSR has been a strong activist-based and volunteer guided organization. For this reason the Summer 2001 issue of the CPSR Journal (formerly the CPSR Newsletter) will focus on the Activist.

The articles that are selected have all appeared in the CPSR Newsletter, since its beginnings in 1983. The articles focus on answering the questions -- What were the issues that motivated the founding of CPSR? What were some of the questions we faced as Computer Professionals? How can CPSR activists influence policy makers?

Each article contains a retrospective update that focuses what has happened since the article was written. In many cases the issues are just as relevant as they were at the time of the original article.

Looking over these articles it shows the broad range of interests that CPSR activists have participated in. Turning twenty gives us the opportunity to sit back and reflect on how much we've accomplished. From Star Wars to Net Governance -- we've had an impact.

May there be twenty more exciting years as society continues to be shaped by technology and the decisions that are made by technologists.

Aki Namioka <anamioka@cpsr.org> is the former president of CPSR.

This issue is available at http://www.cpsr.org/publications/newsletters/issues/2001/Summer/index.html

"What's Inside"