The use of computer-assisted programs in career guidance and counseling has increased significantly in the past 20 years. However, such a rapidly emerging technology has potential hazards if adequate safeguards are not developed. Professional associations and training programs must adopt leadership roles and ethical positions and standards of operation. To guard against unwarranted access to information, issues of confidentiality, e.g., the amount and type of data to store, retrieval rights, research uses, and networking banks, must be addressed. Graduate training programs need to develop computer literacy in their students, as well as training them to be computer-assisted counselors. As our society becomes overloaded with information and the overwhelming number of choices available through readily accessible technology, the counselor must be trained to assist the client in becoming self-fulfilled at a technological and a personal level. Further, from an operational viewpoint, any incorporation of computers into a counseling service must also include provisions for on-going evaluation, maintenance, and updating of the hardware and software. Finally, a computer network, and clearinghouses for the exchange of software programs and ideas must be supported and developed at a national level. (BL)