ROsman%ASS%SwRI05@D26VS046A.CCF.SwRI.EDU (04/12/91)
I'm almost amazed that you were so taken in by Gantz' article. I will admit to reading the article with some interest initially, but it became clear that it was a farce towards the end. I have a lot of respect for the folks at NSA, but they play by the same laws of physics and math that the rest of us do, and I seem to remember some claims toward the end of the article that grossly violated both. The final "nail in the coffin" was the date of the issue (April 1,1991). I wish I had the issue in front of me so I could quote chapter and verse, but I don't. I'm sorry that you were so effectively taken in, but please don't yield to the litigous impulses you are feeling. There's too much of that in this country, and the lawyers are the only ones who win anyway.
kevinc@cs.athabascau.ca (Kevin Crocker) (04/18/91)
ROsman%ASS%SwRI05@D26VS046A.CCF.SwRI.EDU writes: >I'm almost amazed that you were so taken in by Gantz' article. I will >admit to reading the article with some interest initially, but it >became clear that it was a farce towards the end. I have a lot of >respect for the folks at NSA, but they play by the same laws of >physics and math that the rest of us do, and I seem to remember some >claims toward the end of the article that grossly violated both. The >final "nail in the coffin" was the date of the issue (April 1,1991). >I wish I had the issue in front of me so I could quote chapter and >verse, but I don't. I've keep quite about this because I enjoy a good yuck as much as the next person. However, there are a lot of people that read a variety of magazines just for info and pleasure that do not have the math/physics/computer background to understand the sillyness of what was written. There are a lot of neophytes running around making all kinds of decisions about computers that affect entire companies. Articles like this one do an incredible disservice and create more uneasiness about computers and viruses. Computer viruses are NOT something to joke about. Several years ago I lost an entire 40Mb hard disk to something (probably a trojan but I could never find it) Even though I had backups I lost quite a bit of work that cost me several months to recreate. Viruses and trojans are not something that should be joked about, especially if there is the slightest chance that the "joke" could fall into a novices lap. Kevin - -- Kevin "auric" Crocker Athabasca University UUCP: ...!{alberta,ncc}!atha!kevinc Inet: kevinc@cs.AthabascaU.CA