Pleasant@Rutgers.ARPA (04/11/83)
HUMAN-NETS Digest Monday, 11 Apr 1983 Volume 6 : Issue 23 Today's Topics: Computers and People - Facilities for Software Developers, Technology - Automatic Mail Sorters & EFT (7 msgs), Computers and the Law - Electronicx Anklets (2 msgs) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 March 1983 14:34 cst From: Heiby at HI-MULTICS (Ronald W.) Subject: Facilities for SW Developers I am currently in a fight for what I consider to be a decent working environment for software developers. This is being prompted by my management moving me from an area where I share my cubicle with one person to an area where I will be sharing (a larger cubicle) with two or three other people. We are all degreed software engineers with (mostly) 2-6 years of experience. I'd like very much to know in what kind of environment software development gets accomplished in your facility. Specifically, how many people per cubicle (or office), what size cubicle, how many people share a terminal or desktop computer workstation. Other concerns include noise suppression techniques, lighting, plants (green, growing), ventilation, etc. In addition to this information, anything on productivity differences based on type of environment would be great ammunition for me. Please reply directly to me (Heiby @ HI-Multics) and I'll summarize to the net. Thanks much. Ron H. ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 1983 02:32 EST From: Steven A. Swernofsky <SASW @ MIT-MC> Subject: [FJW: [Tim.UPenn: automatic mail sorters]] This should be of interest to this mailing list: -- Steve Date: 29 Jan 1983 21:57-EST From: Tim Finin <Tim.UPenn at UDel-Relay> To: msg-group, header-people Re: automatic mail sorters I'm working on a project involving user-constructed mail "filters". What we would like to build is a rule-driven expert system which will ORDER one's electronic mail on the basis of the message attributes. We don't want to actually filter out unimportant messages, just rank the current (or incoming) ones. The kinds of attributes we are imagining using are things like: - has the message been read?, header seen?, answered? - age of message - sender's identity (e.g. RPG@SAIL), address (BBNA), local vs. network - keywords in subject field and message body - apparent "type" of message body (e.g. pascal code, lisp code, - manner we became a recipient (e.g. only addressee, one of several addressees, as a member of a mailing list, a carbon copy, forwarded...) - size of message - etc. We expect to rank messages with along several dimensions, such as INTEREST, URGENT and IMPORTANCE, and then have rules which combine these rankings to produce an overall ordering of the messages. A crucial aspect to this project would be to provide an environment in which it would be easy for the USER to examine, understand, specify and modify the rules which drive the system. We are aiming for a class of users which includes those technically oriented but having no programming knowledge of experience. We might, for example, allow rules like: if the sender is TIM.UPENN@UDEL ; this fellow sends very then INTEREST is VERY LIKELY to be HIGH ; interesting messages. if the RECIPIENT is a MAILING LIST ; if the mail is not personal then URGENCY is LIKELY to be LOW ; then it's prob. not urgent. if the source is LOCAL ; local (non network) mail has then the IMPORTANCE MAY be HIGH ; many important messages. if the SIZE is > 200 LINES or the TYPE is PASCAL ; very big messages and then the URGENCY MAY be LOW ; programs aren't urgent. if the URGENCY is > MEDIUM and the IMPORTANCE is NOT LOW ; rank from other then the RANK is VERY HIGH ; measures I know that there has bee a fair amount of work in the area of automatic mail filters, routers and the like. I'm interested in getting pointers to people, projects and relevant publications. I'd also like to talk to people who have to deal with a large number of incoming messages (e.g. > 20). I would like to know how they manage the task of reading their mail (old and new) already and what features they would like to see in an mail-sorting expert system. I would greatly appreciate any information, advice or ideas you could give me. Thanks, Tim Finin ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 1983 19:15 EST From: Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC> Subject: EFT and such No, I don't think acts of vandalism are right (cheese in ATM card slot). Better to carry around a number of stick-on OUT OF ORDER labels, and whenever you find a malfunctioning machine you stick on one of these stickers and write a short explanation on it of how it is broken (vending machine doesn't return change, vending machine door is stuck, ATM is out of cash on too many occasions, ATM light is out so you can't see the labels on the buttons you're supposed to press, etc.). If those stickers are hard to remove, the bank or vending-machine company will get the message that customers are dissatisfied but still want the service offered if only it could be improved. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Apr 83 14:59:16 EST (Fri) From: Fred Blonder <fred.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay> Subject: Re: EFT, etc. From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM.ARPA> . . . I also suspect that, by convention and eventual edict, cash will become less and less acceptable as time goes by. I've already run across a clerk in a major department store who honestly didn't know how to handle a CASH sale. She had to call in the manager to handle the transaction. ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 1983 23:30 EST From: Steven A. Swernofsky <SASW @ MIT-MC> Subject: magnetic bank cards Robert, Doesn't this bring us full circle? If all your credit ("money") is recorded on a bank card, the card can still be stolen and many of the anticrime advantages you mentioned are out the window. On the other hand, EFT is far more convenient than paper (your remarks are right on the money there), so this is not a real complaint. Let me propose my own engineering solution to the EFT/privacy problem: PERSONAL SCRIP. Digital signatures can be used to create unforgeable messages which say something like "SASW owes the bearer $xxx.xx". Each person could carry a "smart card" which sends and receives this kind of message (with appropriate card-to-card protocol). You can bring your card to the bank, which will then debit the accounts of people who have given you their IOUs, crediting your account or giving you a bank IOU. There is already a legal doctrine to handle this: negotiable promissory notes. Taking one of these is no more risky than taking a personal check or credit card. Notes of the form "xxx BANK owes the bearer ..." or even "xxx FEDERAL RESERVE BANK owes the bearer" (look at old dollar bills) are the equivalent of cash. If you don't want a check you can take (electronic) cash. Notes can even be post-dated for credit. Your card can still be stolen, since it is now an "electronic wallet." It is also an electronic checkbook. When paying bills you may elect to record an audit trail or not, as you choose. But note that you could literally wire money to people. That allows you to pay your bills by phone, in "cash" if necessary. In addition to the convenience of EFT, you might be able to invent creative new forms of money (such as checks which must be cosigned) for your convenience and protection. I know how to make messages unforgeable using digital signatures (if Rivest-Shimon-Adelman really works) but I'm not sure about making them induplicable. Any comments? -- Steve ------------------------------ Date: 9 Apr 83 0:42:54-EST (Sat) From: the soapbox of Gene Spafford <spaf.gatech@UDel-Relay> Subject: Re: EFT and such When people resort to acts like putting cheese in ATMs it is generally not for such simple reasons as lights being out or temporarily out of cash. Generally, it is an act against the philosophy of the machine or actions of the bank. One of the local banks, First Atlanta, has a policy at the local branch of not giving customers their account balance unless they stand in line and see one of the two overworked people ata a desk. That is, the tellers refuse to check the balance. Instead, they send people to the ATM machines to get their balance. However, such a transaction costs 25 cents and the link to the main computer is often down resulting in a charge but no balance. Enough run-ins like this and you begin to get rather upset with the bank. Some types like to over-react. Me, I just switch banks where they treat me a little nicer. Just because I'm a student doesn't mean I don't rate some respect. However, I had a friend who decided to try something like the cheese because of a continuing problem with "bounced" checks -- the bank doesn't credit deposits made at ATMs in the same way as at the bank. Grrrr... ------------------------------ Date: 9 Apr 1983 16:54 EST (Sat) From: Paul Fuqua <PF@MIT-XX> Subject: More EFT Questions I have read somewhere of the existence of "debit" cards, which, as opposed to "credit" cards, do not extend loans to be billed, but rather deduct money from a {checking, saving, special} account. Sounds awfully EFTish to me. Anyway, since I'm not up on these things (the only cards I have are teller cards to the credit union back home and a bank here), I would like to know (1) are these debit cards in use? (2) are they common? (3) is their per-transaction cost the same as that of credit cards? (4) is their use growing? Regarding receipts: the reason one has to pick up the silly things after each ATM transaction is that the lawmakers/banks/customers are overly concerned with the reliability of the transaction-recording mechanisms in the ATMs. Paper is still considered more permanent than electronic storage, so if one has paper, it is remembered forever. By the way, my credit union doesn't send me canceled checks, because the checkbook includes a carbonless copy with each check. Less paperwork, in a way, but they still microfilm all the checks, just in case. The bank here, however, does send them. Any knowledge of the trends there? pf ------------------------------ Date: Sat Apr 9 19:37:43 1983 From: decvax!watmath!bstempleton@Berkeley Subject: EFT and privacy You fear people who want to hide what they're doing more than those who don't? That may be true for criminals, but there are real reasons for privacy. Some people just plain like it, for one thing. The main thing to consider, though, is that while you may not feel that what you are doing (be it purchasing mouthwash or contributing to a political party) there may be others who do think it is and might act against you if they had a list of your transactions. Can you imagine if the Moral Majority could get a list of what you bought and decided to move against you because you bought a Pay-TV channel that included some program they didn't like??? Brad ------------------------------ ***Error on net connection*** {
Pleasant@Rutgers.ARPA (04/11/83)
HUMAN-NETS Digest Monday, 11 Apr 1983 Volume 6 : Issue 23 Today's Topics: Computers and People - Facilities for Software Developers, Technology - Automatic Mail Sorters & EFT (7 msgs), Computers and the Law - Electronicx Anklets (2 msgs) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 March 1983 14:34 cst From: Heiby at HI-MULTICS (Ronald W.) Subject: Facilities for SW Developers I am currently in a fight for what I consider to be a decent working environment for software developers. This is being prompted by my management moving me from an area where I share my cubicle with one person to an area where I will be sharing (a larger cubicle) with two or three other people. We are all degreed software engineers with (mostly) 2-6 years of experience. I'd like very much to know in what kind of environment software development gets accomplished in your facility. Specifically, how many people per cubicle (or office), what size cubicle, how many people share a terminal or desktop computer workstation. Other concerns include noise suppression techniques, lighting, plants (green, growing), ventilation, etc. In addition to this information, anything on productivity differences based on type of environment would be great ammunition for me. Please reply directly to me (Heiby @ HI-Multics) and I'll summarize to the net. Thanks much. Ron H. ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 1983 02:32 EST From: Steven A. Swernofsky <SASW @ MIT-MC> Subject: [FJW: [Tim.UPenn: automatic mail sorters]] This should be of interest to this mailing list: -- Steve Date: 29 Jan 1983 21:57-EST From: Tim Finin <Tim.UPenn at UDel-Relay> To: msg-group, header-people Re: automatic mail sorters I'm working on a project involving user-constructed mail "filters". What we would like to build is a rule-driven expert system which will ORDER one's electronic mail on the basis of the message attributes. We don't want to actually filter out unimportant messages, just rank the current (or incoming) ones. The kinds of attributes we are imagining using are things like: - has the message been read?, header seen?, answered? - age of message - sender's identity (e.g. RPG@SAIL), address (BBNA), local vs. network - keywords in subject field and message body - apparent "type" of message body (e.g. pascal code, lisp code, - manner we became a recipient (e.g. only addressee, one of several addressees, as a member of a mailing list, a carbon copy, forwarded...) - size of message - etc. We expect to rank messages with along several dimensions, such as INTEREST, URGENT and IMPORTANCE, and then have rules which combine these rankings to produce an overall ordering of the messages. A crucial aspect to this project would be to provide an environment in which it would be easy for the USER to examine, understand, specify and modify the rules which drive the system. We are aiming for a class of users which includes those technically oriented but having no programming knowledge of experience. We might, for example, allow rules like: if the sender is TIM.UPENN@UDEL ; this fellow sends very then INTEREST is VERY LIKELY to be HIGH ; interesting messages. if the RECIPIENT is a MAILING LIST ; if the mail is not personal then URGENCY is LIKELY to be LOW ; then it's prob. not urgent. if the source is LOCAL ; local (non network) mail has then the IMPORTANCE MAY be HIGH ; many important messages. if the SIZE is > 200 LINES or the TYPE is PASCAL ; very big messages and then the URGENCY MAY be LOW ; programs aren't urgent. if the URGENCY is > MEDIUM and the IMPORTANCE is NOT LOW ; rank from other then the RANK is VERY HIGH ; measures I know that there has bee a fair amount of work in the area of automatic mail filters, routers and the like. I'm interested in getting pointers to people, projects and relevant publications. I'd also like to talk to people who have to deal with a large number of incoming messages (e.g. > 20). I would like to know how they manage the task of reading their mail (old and new) already and what features they would like to see in an mail-sorting expert system. I would greatly appreciate any information, advice or ideas you could give me. Thanks, Tim Finin ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 1983 19:15 EST From: Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC> Subject: EFT and such No, I don't think acts of vandalism are right (cheese in ATM card slot). Better to carry around a number of stick-on OUT OF ORDER labels, and whenever you find a malfunctioning machine you stick on one of these stickers and write a short explanation on it of how it is broken (vending machine doesn't return change, vending machine door is stuck, ATM is out of cash on too many occasions, ATM light is out so you can't see the labels on the buttons you're supposed to press, etc.). If those stickers are hard to remove, the bank or vending-machine company will get the message that customers are dissatisfied but still want the service offered if only it could be improved. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Apr 83 14:59:16 EST (Fri) From: Fred Blonder <fred.umcp-cs@UDel-Relay> Subject: Re: EFT, etc. From: Lauren Weinstein <vortex!lauren@LBL-CSAM.ARPA> . . . I also suspect that, by convention and eventual edict, cash will become less and less acceptable as time goes by. I've already run across a clerk in a major department store who honestly didn't know how to handle a CASH sale. She had to call in the manager to handle the transaction. ------------------------------ Date: 8 April 1983 23:30 EST From: Steven A. Swernofsky <SASW @ MIT-MC> Subject: magnetic bank cards Robert, Doesn't this bring us full circle? If all your credit ("money") is recorded on a bank card, the card can still be stolen and many of the anticrime advantages you mentioned are out the window. On the other hand, EFT is far more convenient than paper (your remarks are right on the money there), so this is not a real complaint. Let me propose my own engineering solution to the EFT/privacy problem: PERSONAL SCRIP. Digital signatures can be used to create unforgeable messages which say something like "SASW owes the bearer $xxx.xx". Each person could carry a "smart card" which sends and receives this kind of message (with appropriate card-to-card protocol). You can bring your card to the bank, which will then debit the accounts of people who have given you their IOUs, crediting your account or giving you a bank IOU. There is already a legal doctrine to handle this: negotiable promissory notes. Taking one of these is no more risky than taking a personal check or credit card. Notes of the form "xxx BANK owes the bearer ..." or even "xxx FEDERAL RESERVE BANK owes the bearer" (look at old dollar bills) are the equivalent of cash. If you don't want a check you can take (electronic) cash. Notes can even be post-dated for credit. Your card can still be stolen, since it is now an "electronic wallet." It is also an electronic checkbook. When paying bills you may elect to record an audit trail or not, as you choose. But note that you could literally wire money to people. That allows you to pay your bills by phone, in "cash" if necessary. In addition to the convenience of EFT, you might be able to invent creative new forms of money (such as checks which must be cosigned) for your convenience and protection. I know how to make messages unforgeable using digital signatures (if Rivest-Shimon-Adelman really works) but I'm not sure about making them induplicable. Any comments? -- Steve ------------------------------ Date: 9 Apr 83 0:42:54-EST (Sat) From: the soapbox of Gene Spafford <spaf.gatech@UDel-Relay> Subject: Re: EFT and such When people resort to acts like putting cheese in ATMs it is generally not for such simple reasons as lights being out or temporarily out of cash. Generally, it is an act against the philosophy of the machine or actions of the bank. One of the local banks, First Atlanta, has a policy at the local branch of not giving customers their account balance unless they stand in line and see one of the two overworked people ata a desk. That is, the tellers refuse to check the balance. Instead, they send people to the ATM machines to get their balance. However, such a transaction costs 25 cents and the link to the main computer is often down resulting in a charge but no balance. Enough run-ins like this and you begin to get rather upset with the bank. Some types like to over-react. Me, I just switch banks where they treat me a little nicer. Just because I'm a student doesn't mean I don't rate some respect. However, I had a friend who decided to try something like the cheese because of a continuing problem with "bounced" checks -- the bank doesn't credit deposits made at ATMs in the same way as at the bank. Grrrr... ------------------------------ Date: 9 Apr 1983 16:54 EST (Sat) From: Paul Fuqua <PF@MIT-XX> Subject: More EFT Questions I have read somewhere of the existence of "debit" cards, which, as opposed to "credit" cards, do not extend loans to be billed, but rather deduct money from a {checking, saving, special} account. Sounds awfully EFTish to me. Anyway, since I'm not up on these things (the only cards I have are teller cards to the credit union back home and a bank here), I would like to know (1) are these debit cards in use? (2) are they common? (3) is their per-transaction cost the same as that of credit cards? (4) is their use growing? Regarding receipts: the reason one has to pick up the silly things after each ATM transaction is that the lawmakers/banks/customers are overly concerned with the reliability of the transaction-recording mechanisms in the ATMs. Paper is still considered more permanent than electronic storage, so if one has paper, it is remembered forever. By the way, my credit union doesn't send me canceled checks, because the checkbook includes a carbonless copy with each check. Less paperwork, in a way, but they still microfilm all the checks, just in case. The bank here, however, does send them. Any knowledge of the trends there? pf ------------------------------ Date: Sat Apr 9 19:37:43 1983 From: decvax!watmath!bstempleton@Berkeley Subject: EFT and privacy You fear people who want to hide what they're doing more than those who don't? That may be true for criminals, but there are real reasons for privacy. Some people just plain like it, for one thing. The main thing to consider, though, is that while you may not feel that what you are doing (be it purchasing mouthwash or contributing to a political party) there may be others who do think it is and might act against you if they had a list of your transactions. Can you imagine if the Moral Majority could get a list of what you bought and decided to move against you because you bought a Pay-TV channel that included some program they didn't like??? Brad ------------------------------ Date: 9 Apr 83 20:17:47-EST (Sat) From: the soapbox of Gene Spafford <spaf.gatech@UDel-Relay> Subject: ATM issuing new cards When I want to order a new card from First Nasty of Atlanta (excuse me, First National), they require me to show some positive form of ID and enter my old secret code on the request form. The new card is generally mailed within a week. The waiting time serves a purpose, I'm sure, and the requirement of ID and the code seems pretty secure. I don't see how the ATM could issue a blank card with just the magnetic strip encoded. I mean, that might work part of the time, but the only times I needed a card replaced were times I lost my card (and thus could not activate the machine to request a card), or else my card was so badly damaged it either would not go in the machine, or could not be read. Again, the machine could not be activated to issue me a new card. Also, the embossing is useful for me -- it contains my account number, which I can never remember (I have so many other things to remember). It also can be used in check verifying machines to identify me. The embossing can serve other purposes too, I suppose. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Apr 83 20:02:55-EST (Sat) From: the soapbox of Gene Spafford <spaf.gatech@UDel-Relay> Subject: Anklets on Women Actually, I think the idea should be to make the anklets as conspicuous as possible, even under pants, boots, floor length gowns, flannel nighties... The purpose of the anklet is as an alternative to a jail sentence. I may be wrong, and some of the things currently done in our judicial system make me wonder, but I thought conviction of a crime entailed some form of punishment which included some form of public recognition of the conviction. I don't think we should use something like this on anyone but a convicted felon, but if we do it should be a collar or other prominent badge of wrongdoing. Punishment is also supposed to be a deterrent to potential criminals. Would you be so likely to ignore your traffic tickets if you knew you might end up wearing a 5 pound ugly green collar around your neck for a month? Same idea as the "Boston boot" for you car.... ------------------------------ Date: 10 Apr 1983 1128-EST From: Siggy (Alexander B. Latzko) <LATZKO@RU-GREEN> Subject: Anklets on women<electronic tracking> In response to Ms. Gold's letter referring to putting pantyhose on over an anklet three solutions come to mind: 1> Wear slacks. Perhaps things are different in different parts of the country; however, standard day wear for most persons of the female gender in this area includes trousers of one form or another. 2> Individual stockings which could then be slid between the anklet and leg are a possibility (yes I realize that negates the ease in wearing panty hose). 3> Move the transponder. It could be worn as a wristlet or as a necklace although the idea of it in neck borne form strikes me as a harkening back to times of slaveholding in connotation. /S* <Latzko%RU-Green@RUTGERS> ------------------------------ End of HUMAN-NETS Digest ************************