2 chapters across the catalog
IBM Social Security Plan, Nazi Germany Historical Context
A report suggests the federal government has tasked IBM with creating a new system for Social Security numbers. The hosts reference Edwin Black's research on IBM's history of using punch cards to help Nazi Germany conduct censuses and identify specific ethnic groups.
The hosts deconstruct the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), noting that IBM has sent 200 executives to lobby for its passage. They draw a historical parallel to IBM's "Hollerith" punch card systems used by Nazi Germany to identify and sort populations during the Holocaust. They argue that the bill's focus on "sharing" information with the Department of Homeland Security is a threat to civil liberties.
