Willis Ware

Willis H. Ware
Born (1920-08-31)August 31, 1920
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Died November 22, 2013(2013-11-22) (aged 93)
Santa Monica, California
Alma mater B.S. in electrical engineering, University of Pennsylvania; M.S. in electrical engineering, MIT; Ph.D. in electrical engineering, Princeton University
Known for Privacy Act of 1974

Willis Howard Ware (August 31, 1920 November 22, 2013) was an American computer pioneer, privacy pioneer, social critic of technology policy, and a founder in the field of computer security.[1][2]

Biography

Ware studied electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT. During World War II, he worked for the Hazeltine Corporation (1942–1946) on classified military projects. After the war (1946–1951), he joined the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton to work with John von Neumann on building an early computer.[3] After completing his PhD there, he moved to North American Aviation (1951–1952), helped to move the aviation industry from punch-card machines to early computers, and began teaching a class in computing at UCLA; it continued for 12 years. In 1952 he joined the RAND Corporation, where he stayed until 1992. He was an early design engineer on the RAND JOHNNIAC computer.[4]

In 1961, he was the founding president of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, an early technical computing society.[5] Ware predicted that increased reliance on computers would create new privacy issues,[2] and in 1972 he chaired the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's Special Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems, which developed policy recommendations including the Code of Fair Information Practice that significantly influenced the Privacy Act of 1974.[4] He continued to study and write about privacy for many years.[6]

Ware influenced many aspects of computing including the initiation and direction of one of the first computing courses, at UCLA and authored some of the first textbooks in the field of computer security. In addition, he chaired several influential studies, including one in 1967 that produced a groundbreaking and transformational report to the Defense Science Board for ARPA (now DARPA) that was known thereafter as "The Ware Report."

Ware died at his home in Santa Monica, California in 2013.[7]

Professional activities

Ware was an active and influential member of many industry organizations including:

Awards and honors

Publications

Ware authored over 70 publications over the course of his professional career.RAND

Ware also co-authored Security in Computing by Willis H. Ware, Shari Lawrence Pfleeger (2002).

See also

References

  1. Spafford, Gene. The Passing of A Pioneer Nov. 26, 2013
  2. 1 2 Rand Corporation. Willis Ware, Computer Pioneer, Helped Build Early Machines and Warned About Security Privacy at rand.org. Nov 27, 2013.
  3. J Markoff, Willis Ware, 93, engineer at dawn of computer age. NYT, December 3, 2013: page B17.
  4. 1 2 "Willis H. Ware (Interview)". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 33 (3): 67–73. July–September 2011. doi:10.1109/mahc.2011.60. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  5. Ware, Willis (11 August 2003). "Oral History Interview with Willis Ware" (Interview). Interview with Jeffrey R. Yost. Minneapolis: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  6. "Bibliography of Willis H. Ware's RAND publications". Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  7. http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-willis-ware-20131130,0,3253770.story
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