CPSR's Norbert Wiener Award: A Fitting Legacy for the First Cyber-Activist

Daniel Borenstein recounted the history of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), founded in 1983, and its Norbert Wiener Award, established to honor individuals who demonstrated responsible use of technology. Over more than three decades, the award recognized whistleblowers, people-first advocates like Joseph Weizenbaum, Mitch Kapor, and Douglas Engelbart, and privacy champions including Phil Zimmermann and Bruce Schneier.

Borenstein noted the recent disbanding of CPSR and proposed resurrecting the Norbert Wiener Award as a way to continue honoring Wiener's legacy of ethical engagement with technology. He argued that Wiener was effectively the first "cyber-activist," a scientist who insisted that technical expertise carries social responsibility. The presentation served as both a historical retrospective and a call to action for the technology community to sustain Wiener's ethical tradition.