human-nets@ucbvax.ARPA (05/16/85)
From: Charles McGrew (The Moderator) <Human-Nets-Request@Rutgers> 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... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 29-Apr-85 12:13 PDT From: William Daul - Augmentation Systems - McDnD From: <WBD.TYM@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// ------------------------------ Date: Mon 29 Apr 85 20:51:40-EDT From: Thomas.Finholt@CMU-CS-C.ARPA Subject: Telecommuting info To: tg0u%CMU-CC-TB@CMU-CC-TE Please address all inquiries to Terri Griffith. Thanks. ----------------- 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 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Apr 85 09:24:37 PDT From: Richard Foy <foy@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 foy@aerospace.arpa ------------------------------ Date: 15 May 85 16:01:08 PDT (Wednesday) From: Hoffman.ES@Xerox.ARPA Subject: Privacy Law and the Computer To: Info-Law@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].... ------------------------------ Date: 14 May 85 19:32:52 EDT From: Mike <ZALESKI@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 ------------------------------ 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: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin ------------------------------ End of HUMAN-NETS Digest ************************