POURNE@Mit-Mc.ARPA (06/25/84)
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE@Mit-Mc.ARPA> In a telephone interview Friday, Douglas Cambern, Executive Director of Pacific Bell, told me, eventually, that perhaps Bell had been a bit more severe than was wise; this after I pointed out that Telco had probably managed to make enemies out of a lot of rather intelligent people who did NOT assert any right to publicise telephone codes, etc. Cambern wiggled a lot, obviously unhappy at having to defend the phone company employees action in insisting that Tcimpidas' equipment be siezed; he admitted that Tcimpidas was "terribly cooperative". When I pointed out that Telco actions cost quite a lot of time and money for Tcimpidas, Cambern took the position that both Tcimpidas and Telco were "joint victims" of the people who had posted the codes. He wasn't too comfortable with th fact that Telco lost less ("hundreds of dollars") thant T cimpidas. I also pointed out that the recent actions and publicity would probably generate some desire to harass the Phone co. among people who would not otherwise thnk of doing that. His reply is interesting: "Aperson who is psychologically disposed to take illegal actions has a character defect that will eventually cause him to be caught." He didn't reply when I said, "O, like Patrick Henry?" In any event Cambern now wishes he had attended the meeting of BBS operators in LA, and would like to attend a meeting of BBS people with a view to seeing if application of technological smarts and ingenuity can result in BBS and Telco cooperating on a fix to the difficulty. I think he meant it, although given a telephone interview and the smug attitude he started with it's hard to be sure. Anyone interested in putting together such a meeting with a high Pacific Bell official (he promises to bring technical types from Security)? No guarantees that this isn't some kind of ploy, but it might be real. It was interesting as his attitude changed: in beginning he couldn't spell or pronouce my name althugh it had been both spelled and pronounced for him, and he asked if that was "B-I-T-E Magazine"; after a bit when he learned I had been the Director of Research for the City of LA, (and that BYTE is not so small as he thought, and McGraw-Hill not so insignificant as he hoped) there was a decided change in attitude. I don't figure it's my place to organize such a meeting; I'd loke to come to it, and I'll be glad to convey any invitation to Cambern if something interesting looks like it might develop. I've been unable to log in on Tcimpidas' BB (line busy all the time) so anyone who could relay this to him might be doing him a service. J E P
towson@Amsaa.ARPA (06/25/84)
From: David Towson (CSD) <towson@Amsaa.ARPA> Now see here, Mr. Poor Nell, I never heard of any BITE magazine. Is that a publication of some bunch of perverted flakos with character defects - believers in vampires perhaps? Love it!! Nice going, Jerry. Dave towson@amsaa.arpa