Abstract :
This inaugural installment of the Annals Interviews column includes an interview with Willis Ware, who has been involved in digital computing since the mid-1940s. Ware had a knack for being at the right place at the right time and was involved in several important steps in the spread of digital computing. His professional experience includes Hazeltine Electronics Corporation (1942–1946), Institute for Advanced Study (1946–1951), North American Aviation (1951–1952), and RAND (1952–1992). He was also the first president of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) and chair of the Special Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems, which developed policy recommendations that funneled into the Privacy Act of 1974.
