Reports on IEEE´s first ethics case

The two reports in this issue of TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY are outgrowths of a case involving Ms. Virginia Edgerton, a senior information scientist with the CIRCLE project of the New York City Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, who was discharged after raising questions regarding the efficacy of a computerized police emergency dispatch system — first to her supervisor and finally to the members of the CIRCLE committee. Ms. Edgerton contacted CSIT in June 1977, requesting assistance. At that time no formal mechanism existed within IEEE for evaluation potential ethics cases.