revpk@cellar.UUCP (Brian 'Rev P-K' Siano) (06/08/91)
The cover story of this week's In These Times-- a mildly socialist
weekly from Chicago, highly recommended as a daily paper, with comparatively
little ideology and lots of good tidbits of news-- relates how the Justice
Department has apparently entered the software piracy domain.
Inslaw Corporation developed a program called Promis for the Justice
Department would use to track cases through the entire U.S. court system.
Promis (Prosecutor's Management Information System) was designed to help
keep track of what kinds of cases were won, lost, or dismissed. What made the
program unique was its adaptability to local jurisdictional conventions,
i.e., translating terminology between areas. For example, Chicago uses the
word "cases" while Los Angeles uses "dockets."
The company founder, Bill Hamilton, says that the subsystem that does
this translating can also keep trac of other things-- such as tracking
clients for social services, or for the police department, or... well, it'd
allow the Justice Department to follow a LOT of individuals.
Inslaw, Inc. installed Promis in several attorneys' office, and the
Justice Department then refused to pay two million dolars on contracted
costs. As a result, Inslaw had to file for bankruptcy-- and has reorhganized
under Chapter 11.
Curenly, suits have been filed accusing the Justice Department of
deliberately trying to bankrupt Inslaw for the purpose of forcing a Promis
fire-sale.
I haven't read the entire article yet-- there's apparently some
tie-in with the suspected 'October Surprise' deals over the Iran hostages,
but I'm inclined to think that's very tenuous right now. Eitherw way, the
Promis controversy more or less illustrates an interesting aspect of the
Justice Department's attitudes towards information and computers.
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Brian Siano, aka [ "Mr. A. Hitler, the old Nazi thing, says
[ Mickey's silly. Imagine that! Well, Mickey is
Rev. Philosopher-King [ going to save Mr. A. Hitler from drowning or
[ something some day. Just wait and see if he
revpk@cellar.UUCP [ doesn't. Then won't Mr. A. Hitler be ashamed!"
[ -- Walt Disney, 1933.
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