HUMAN-NETS Digest V8 #16
human...@ucbvax.arpa
HUMAN-NETS Digest Thursday, 16 May 1985 Volume 8 : Issue 16
Today's Topics:
Query - Amer. Soc. for Information Science,
Responses to Queries - Assoc. of Electronic Villagers &
Home Computer Usage,
Computers and the Law - Privacy Law,
Computers and People - Followup on Working at Home &
Computers are everywhere these days...
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Date: 29-Apr-85 12:13 PDT
From: William Daul - Augmentation Systems - McDnD
From: <WBD...@OFFICE-2.ARPA>
Subject: RFI on American Society for Information Science (Asis)
Do any of you belong to ASIS? What can you tell me about them? Does
anyone out there have a phone number for them? Thanks, --Bi//
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Date: Mon 29 Apr 85 20:51:40-EDT
From: Thomas....@CMU-CS-C.ARPA
Subject: Telecommuting info
To: tg0u%CMU-CC-TB@CMU-CC-TE
Please address all inquiries to Terri Griffith. Thanks.
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About the Association of Electronic Cottagers:
It apparently was formed to "inform members about regulatory
challenges and to act as a voice for people working at home as
telecommuters or entrepreneurs." (Telecommuting Review: The Gordon
Report, V.1,3. 50 West Palm St., Altadena, CA 91001). It was founded
by Paul and Sarah Edwards (818) 355-0800. Other reported groups who
are interested in the regulation of home based work are the National
Alliance of Homebased Businesswomen (201) 423-9131, and the National
Association for Cottage Industry (312) 472-8116.
Terri L. Griffith (TG0U@CMU-CC-TB)
Graduate School of
Industrial Administration
Carnegie-Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
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Date: Mon, 29 Apr 85 09:24:37 PDT
From: Richard Foy <f...@AEROSPACE.ARPA>
To: saffo@su-score
Subject: Home Computer Ussage
I purchased a TI-99/4A home computer shortly before they folded.
However I have used it extensively and if they hadn't folded I am sure
that I would be using it or its successors for more applications. Both
Atari and Commodore are coming out with much more capable machines at
home computer prices. I suspect that if the manufacturers have learned
the lessons of that last round and don't try to drive each other out
of business they will find a steady growth in the market.
The things that I have used it for so far include:
1 phone address list
2 engagement calendar
3 birthdate reminder
4 creating brief abstracts of magazines and books that I read and
might want to reference later
5 writing letters to my representatives
6 organizing and preparing outlines for talks that I give at
various groups
7 personalized program with spoken words and music and sprites to
lead me through yoga type excercises
many of the above applications are slow to be usefull if written in
basic I have had to write them in assembly so that I can look up
a phone number in less time than it would take in my typical writ
by hand phone book
If TI were still in the mome computer business I would also be using
it to water my plants on a water requirement basis rather than a
simple time schedule that most water systems use. That would
probably pay for the cost of the interface card in less than one
year because I am sure that I significantly oveer water with the
timer in order to insure that plants are not lost by drying out.
When there is enough competition so that banks charge less for
computer that the banking feedback is suffient for IRS purposes etc.
Some more current applications which I have but which require
assembly language to be usefull.
8. A file of my dreams which I discuss in dream interpretation
groups.
9. A file of events reagrding other people that I work or associate
with in one way or another to improve my ability of relating to
them in that I can refresh my memory about thier response to
various situations
I suspect that other people would find many similiar uses when the
coming generation of home computers stabilizes and has had time for
user group assembly language or compiled ie fast running programs to
become available. My thoughts include:
1. Files of sports statistics that can be manipulated to predict
games.
2. Horse racing data and prediction programs.
3. Home enviormental control.
4. Home lighting control.
5. Water heater time temperature control.
I would have the control applications now except for TI's demise.
I ould like to receive your list of results to your study.
richard foy f...@aerospace.arpa
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Date: 15 May 85 16:01:08 PDT (Wednesday)
From: Hoffm...@Xerox.ARPA
Subject: Privacy Law and the Computer
To: Info...@SRI-CSL.ARPA
Excerpted from the Los Angeles Times, May 14, 1985, Part I, page 1:
Computer Age Gaps
Privacy Law: Race to Pace Technology
By William C. Rempel
Federal laws prohibit interception of private mail, eavesdropping on
private telephone conversations and search of private property without
a warrant. However, federal authorities in Detroit tried to seize
computer mail, police in Rhode Island used FM radios to eavesdrop on
cordless telephone conversations, and Army investigators at the
Pentagon opened and examined the personal computer files of government
employees.
None of these investigators had a warrant, nor did they violate any
law.
Technology...has created an array of loopholes in the laws of privacy.
Concern about the loopholes has prompted a California assemblywoman to
introduce bills that could make California the first state to extend
privacy protection to all electronic communications; Congress has
directed its Office of Technology Assessment to investigate
technology's effect on civil liberties, and several members of the
House and Senate are proposing legislation that would adapt provisions
in the Bill of Rights to the computer age.
....
"Ways may someday be developed by which government, without removing
papers from secret drawers, can reproduce them in court, and by which
it will be enabled to expose to a jury the most intimate occurrences
of the home," [former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis]
wrote.
....[discussion of concealed television cameras and cordless telephone
conversation interception]....
[F]ederal wiretap statutes refer specifically to the "aural
acquisition" of information during a "wire" transmission over
government-regulated telephone systems.
....
Rand Corp. executive Willis H. Ware, appointed to the Privacy
Protection Study Commission after Congress passed the Privacy Act of
1974, said that data transmissions have almost no protection from
private interception.
....
"Anyone having access to such a body of information might as well have
the key to the office and to its file cabinets," he earlier told a
House hearing.
It's all but impossible to know whether data has been intercepted. A
computer snoop can read and make copies of information without leaving
any electronic fingerprints.
....
Peter Keane, an assistant public defender [in San Francisco] said,
"There's no longer a need for someone to break into an office at 3
a.m. -- doing a `black bag job' like in the Watergate (burglary).
Now the burglar can sit in the safety and convenience of his own
office, using his hot little fingers to punch out the proper access
codes."
....
[I]nvestigators [in a San Francisco case] found that a police officer
had been using the government's computer to keep some records for his
wife's church charity.
Contributing to the legal confusion over access to computer data is
the largely unresolved question of who owns the information in a
computer. It is similar to the question of who owns the contents of
an employee's locked desk drawer, the employee or the boss?
The Army has taken the position that the contents of its computer
belong to the Army....
Larry Layten, a civilian computer expert with the Army's Materiel
Development and Readiness Command, published his concerns about such
investigations in a message he sent out over a national electronic
mail system. [This was in Human-Nets, Volume 6, Issue 64, 21 Oct.
1983. -- Rodney Hoffman]
"If, in fact, the owner of a computer system has the right to search
(in witch hunt fashion) through all the files...then I...will refrain
from using the system as I have in the past: as a note pad, telephone
replacement, sounding board for ideas, etc.," Layten said.
....
[discussion of attempted government seizure of electronic mail
archives in a drug case, and the proposed California constitutional
amendment]....
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Date: 14 May 85 19:32:52 EDT
From: Mike <ZAL...@RUTGERS.ARPA>
Subject: Followup on computers and working at home
This topic was discussed a while back on Human-Nets. Now, looking
at the May 1985 issue of Micro Communications, I find a one page
article about this very topic. The article quotes Dennis Chamot,
assistant director of the AFL-CIO's Department of Professional
Employees. He points out that "when the AFL-CIO calls for a ban
on home work under the FLSA, the act includes exemptions for
executive, managerial, and professional employees. The exemption
is total for the first two classes, and there are salary tests for
high-paid professional employees. Most computer programmers and
analysts fall into the exempt groups." (Quote from article, but
not a direct quote of Mr. Chamot.)
So, it may be that the AFL-CIO is not really causing trouble here.
However, this still does not protect us from stupid legislators
who can't tell a cash register from a computer terminal, but who
will still pass laws about home labor.
-- "The Model Citizen" Mike^Z
Zaleski@Rutgers [ allegra, ihnp4 ] pegasus!mzal
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Date: Tue, 30 Apr 85 10:31:24 CDT
From: Will Martin -- AMXAL-RI <wmartin@Almsa-2>
Subject: Computers are everywhere these days...
Thought you all might find this item interesting, from the April '85
(no, I don't think it's an April Fool's joke) issue of SPORTS
MERCHANDISER (a sporting goods trade paper), new products listing,
page 69:
COMPUTER REEL
Miya Epoch has added the Electronic Computer controlled fishing reel
to its line. ME-1000 C-11 combines a two-speed motor-driven reel with
an electronic computer. The fisherman can punch in the desired fishing
depth, jigging cycle, jigging space, and jigging timer and the
computer memorizes the program and will repeat it until changed. The
12-volt DC battery-operated motor winds at 280 or 330 rpm,
automatically changing speeds according to the load, and can be
programmed to stop winding when the fish is beside the boat. Suggested
retail $1,895. [sic] Miya Epoch, 1635 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance, CA
90501
***End of item***
There is a picture of this sort of bulky-looking reel with no handles
showing (I think they're folded) with a panel on the back with
chiclet-style keys but no readily-visible readout (though there might
be one -- not much detail on a 5-cm-sq picture). It looks like a real
thing...
I know fishing is supposed to be for relaxation, but this seems a bit
much...
Will Martin
ARPA/MILNET: wma...@almsa-1.ARPA USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin
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