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The Art of Technology Digest 6
The Art of Technology Digest #6 Friday, October 16th, 1992
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Editor: Chris Cappuccio (chris%aotnet@mcnnet.mi.org)
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[AoT Digest] Contents #6 (Fri, October 16th, 1992)
Article 1: SEMATECH Campaign in NYT
Article 2: EFF announces gopher access to their online documents
Article 3: Call for SEMATECH Advisory Participants
Article 4: Computer Help Needed for Human-Rights Project
Article 5: CPSR Social Action Report
Article 6: Beta Testers Needed for Security Tool
Article 7: Linux 0.98.1 Information
Article 8: Fixed Problems With The aotd Mailserver
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Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 11:41:24 -0400
From: Gary Chapman <chapman@silver.lcs.mit.edu>
Subject: Article 1--SEMATECH Campaign in NYT
The first page of the business section in The New York Times today
(October 5th) features an article on the work of the Campaign for
Responsible Technology on SEMATECH, the Austin, Texas, research
consortium. The article is by John Markoff and is titled "Sematech's
New Mission Is Defined." The first paragraph says:
Congress took the unusual step over the weekend of mandating
that 10 percent of the Sematech computer chip consortium's
$100 million 1993 budget be used for environmental research.
This is not quite accurate, because SEMATECH's total budget is $200
million per year; the $100 million figure is the federal government's
contribution to the budget, of which $10 million is now dedicated to
environmental R&D. And although it is true that $10 million is 10% of
$100 million, the legislation does not mandate 10%, which we suggested
as a standing recommendation for every annual authorization, but instead
only $10 million for FY 1993.
The article reports that the House language that earmarked the $10
million authorization that was a result of CRT work was retained in the
conference committee version of the Defense Authorization Bill finalized
this past weekend.
Ted Smith and Susana Almanza of CRT are quoted in the article. Susana
is identified as the spokeswoman for People in Defense of the Earth and
its Resources, PODER, the environmental organization in East Austin that
grew out of the SEMATECH campaign.
Ted Smith, Susana Almanza, and CRT coordinator Rand Wilson are in Austin
today to hold a press conference and a meeting with the editorial board
of the Austin American-Statesman, the leading local newspaper. The
newspaper has been mildly hostile to CRT work in the past, and generally
favors the semiconductor industry.
The passage of this authorization for SEMATECH is a major victory for
public interest activism in the United States. To our knowledge, this
is the first time a public interest coalition has had a significant
impact on the research content of a major Pentagon-financed R&D
facility. The work that has been done around SEMATECH can be used as a
model for democratic, participatory policymaking all over the country.
The organizers of this effort deserve thanks and congratulations from
everyone concerned about the character of democracy in the United
States.
To contact Ted Smith, chairman of the Campaign for Responsible
Technology, call (408) 287-6707, or write him on e-mail at
tsmith@igc.org.
To contact Susana Almanza, call her at the Texas Center for Policy
Studies, (512) 474-0811.
For more information about CRT and the SEMATECH campaign, contact Rand
Wilson at (617) 391-3866 or write him on e-mail at rwilson@igc.org.
I will also be happy to answer questions about the campaign.
Future tasks for the SEMATECH campaign include getting the consortium's
private partners to match the federal funds in order to generate another
$10 million in funding for environmental and labor safety R&D in FY 93,
and then to form public interest advisory committees to help PODER and
CRT activists monitor how SEMATECH spends the money it has been given by
Congress. Please get in touch if you are interested in helping out with
either of these tasks.
Gary Chapman
Coordinator
The 21st Century Project
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Cambridge, Massachusetts
chapman@lcs.mit.edu
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 18:19:42 -0400
From: Christopher Davis <ckd@eff.org>
Subject: Article 2--EFF announces gopher access to their online documents
+=========+==================================================+==============+
| F.Y.I. | Newsnote from the Electronic Frontier Foundation | Oct 6, 1992 |
+=========+==================================================+==============+
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION OPENS GOPHER SERVER TO THE INTERNET
The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced today that they now offer
access to their online document library via the Internet Gopher protocol,
developed at the University of Minnesota. Gopher access joins WAIS,
electronic mail service, and anonymous ftp as an electronic means of
access to EFF documents.
Gopher clients are available for Mac, NeXT, GNU Emacs, X11, VM/CMS, VMS,
and curses interfaces. Many of these are available for anonymous ftp from
boombox.micro.umn.edu in pub/gopher. Those without clients can telnet to
consultant.micro.umn.edu and login as "gopher" to try it out. (EFF's
Gopher server is listed under "Other Gopher and Information Servers".)
The EFF Gopher service is available on gopher.eff.org, port 70. WAIS
access is available on wais.eff.org, port 210. Anonymous ftp access to
the document library is available on ftp.eff.org, in directory pub/EFF.
Mail service is handled through archive-server@eff.org; use "index eff"
for a list of documents and document sections.
For more information on the EFF or online access to our documents, send
electronic or postal mail to the addresses below.
+=====+=======================================================+=============+
| EFF | 155 Second Street, Cambridge MA 02141 +1 617 864 0665 | eff@eff.org |
+=====+=======================================================+=============+
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 09:14:27 -0400
From: Gary Chapman <chapman@silver.lcs.mit.edu>
Subject: Article 3--Call for SEMATECH Advisory Participants
Campaign for Responsible Technology
Sustainable Industry Policy Development at SEMATECH
ADVISORS NEEDED!
The semiconductor industry is often touted as a "clean" industry, but in
fact uses some of the most dangerous materials in existence and has
been the source of unprecedented environmental degradation and workplace
hazards. One of the major "footprints" of the industry's development
has been substantial groundwater contamination. Exposure to toxic
chemicals in the workplace and surrounding communities has been linked
to cancer, central nervous system damage, birth defects and deaths. CRT
and Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice are
collaborating on an Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign. Last
Summer, community organizations participated in a grass-roots assessment
of the impact of the semiconductor industry on their communities that
confirmed widespread occupational and environmental problems. Further,
the assessment identified serious concerns about employment
discrimination and the uneven benefits of the industry's economic
development for the community.
Seeking to solutions for these problems, the Campaign for Responsible
Technology (CRT) successfully helped to amend the FY '93 congressional
funding re-authorizing SEMATECH to include $10 million for research on
environmentally safe manufacturing methods.
The groups are also asking SEMATECH's private sector partners*--thirteen
of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the U.S.--to match the
taxpayer's $10 million by similarly earmarking 10 percent of their
SEMATECH contribution for environmentally safe manufacturing methods.
That would create a $20 million research fund at SEMATECH that could
directly address the problems experienced by semiconductor workers and
the communities where the production facilities are located. The
challenge for CRT is to develop a well-conceived research agenda that
would fulfill this promise. CRT will initiate a "shadow advisory
committee" to develop a $20 million research agenda for SEMATECH and to
establish a "yard stick" that will influence SEMATECH officials on how
the money will be spent in fiscal year 1993. There are three components
to this committee:
1) A task force on environmentally responsible manufacturing in the
semiconductor industry;
2) A task force on community development, to ensure that communities
chosen as the sites for new semiconductor fabrication plants, or
communities hoping to attract such plants, can have expert advice on
how to manage the development process to attain maximum community
benefit.
3) A task force on labor, to promote high skilled jobs and new forms of
work organization in the semiconductor industry.
Participants in the three advisory task forces will be drawn from CRT's
advisory board and other nationally recognized experts in these fields.
The task forces are will not seek to answer these questions on their
own. Rather, each would identify questions that SEMATECH researchers
should be asking in order to comply with the needs of CRT and the
Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign's needs.
The three task forces will serve as guides for the research to be
conducted at SEMATECH; they will determine the most important research
questions and suggest qualified professionals who could competently help
SEMATECH arrive at good policies.
The task forces will not deal directly with SEMATECH officials, but
serve as an expert resource for the grassroots organizers who have
conducted this campaign and who will continue to monitor SEMATECH's
performance.
CRT plans to organize a conference in early 1993 where each of the task
forces will present their findings to representatives of organizations
participating in the Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign and or
members of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.
After evaluating the research design proposed by the task forces, CRT
and the Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign will present the
proposals to SEMATECH. CRT is looking for technical people to serve on
these taskforces. Anyone interested should contact:
Rand Wilson
Director
Campaign for Responsible Technology
408 Highland Ave.
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 391-3866
rwilson@igc.com
Gary Chapman
Coordinator
The 21st Century Project
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
22 Kidder Ave. #2
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 625-6985
chapman@lcs.mit.edu
* The 12 member companies are Advanced Micro Devices, AT&T, Digital
Equipment, Harris, Hewlett Packard, Intel, IBM, LSI Logic, Motorola,
National Semiconductor, Rockwell, Texas Instruments.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:35:00 EDT
From: Jeff Johnson <jjohnson@hpljaj.hpl.hp.com>
Subject: Article 4--Computer Help Needed for Human-Rights Project
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Request for computer assistance:
The Human Rights Committee of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science would like to find a person having computer
programming skills to help with a project. They are tracking
human-rights violations in El Salvador, and, via computer, analyzing
the violations with respect to Army movements. They need someone to
help program the system.
Persons interested in volunteering or helping should contact:
Daniel Falsedo
202-326-6615
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:40:01 EDT
From: Jeff Johnson <jjohnson@hpljaj.hpl.hp.com>
Subject: Article 5--CPSR Social Action Report
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Towards a Guide to Social Action for Computer Professionals
By Jeff Johnson, Chair, and Evelyn Pine, Managing Director,
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
Introduction
"Being a typical nerd programmer, it's always been comforting to believe
that somehow whatever I was working on in the darkness of my cubicle
would eventually benefit the world. ... I focused on what was
interesting to me, assuming that it would also be important to the
world. But the events in L.A. have forced me to think that maybe it
doesn't work that way; and to confront the question: what can I, as a
professional in the HCI field, do to help change what's going on in the
world?" -- a CHI'92 attendee.
The Rodney King video, trial, verdict, and subsequent riots jolted
Americans in many ways besides showing us acts of violence committed by
police and citizens. It also made the inequities of American society
painfully clear, and provided a clear response to Langston Hughes'
question: "What happens to a dream deferred?" Answer: it explodes.
This caused many people to rethink how they are conducting their lives,
and how we are conducting our neighborhoods, our cities, our states,
and our nation.
Computer professionals have a relatively comfortable position in this
society. For the most part, we are well-paid, and our jobs are more
secure than most. As a result, we live in nicer neighborhoods, send
our kids to better schools, eat healthier food, use better tools, and
have access to better health care. Because of this, some of us feel a
responsibility to help those in our society who aren't so well-off, and
some of us don't.
However, computer professionals are not just another well-paid segment
of society. We, more than people in most other lines of work, create
world-changing technology, technology that profoundly affects how
people live, work, and die. We can create technology that, e.g., can
be used to improve neighborhoods, education, food production and
distribution, tools, and health care. We can also create technology
that can be used to keep the poor out of our neighborhoods and schools,
produce and sell junk food and worthless tools, and limit access to
health care, as well as keep the lid on discontent and even kill people
more efficiently.
Computer technology can help reduce inequity and it can also help
exacerbate it. The public learned of the King beating because of
technology in the hands of citizens. Today anyone with a PC, an
ink-jet printer, and a copier can produce documents that political
activists of just thirty years ago, cranking out smelly typewritten
ditto copies, never imagined. Citizens of China and Thailand used fax,
video, and electronic mail to document government repression of
democratic movements. Computer technology is a crucial ingredient of
all of the above, in their design and manufacture as well as in the
tools themselves.
Unfortunately, the effect of introducing computer technology has more
often been to increase the stratification of society. Let's face it:
computer systems often lead to loss of jobs. Furthermore, as the
infrastructure upon which society is based becomes more dependent upon
computer technology, those without technical skills are left behind.
The end of the Cold War and the recession, combined with the
introduction of computer technology, have served to exacerbate
joblessness and hopelessness for those who have been rendered
superfluous and don't have the education to become "knowledge workers."
"How many of the projects that are funded will have a net result of
reducing jobs -- particularly jobs for less-educated people? ...
I find many in the computer industry have defensive rationalizations
for the fact that their own labor will result in the loss of jobs to
society. ... The up and coming area of software that I myself work
in -- workflow -- will automate people out of work. ... How do we
deal with this?" -- A CHI'92 attendee.
This special relationship between computer technology and society gives
those who develop it -- us -- responsibilities beyond any that arise
merely from our comfortable economic status. To quote from the
statement of purpose of Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility (CPSR): "Decisions regarding the development and use of
computers ... have far-reaching consequences and reflect basic values
and priorities. We believe that computer technology should make life
more enjoyable, productive, and secure."
The King riots jolted us, causing many of us to reflect on whether we
are living up to our responsibilities as citizens and as computer
professionals. The contrast between the world we inhabit, of which the
CHI'92 conference is a part, and the one that exploded into violence
and flames the week before the conference, caused some of us to feel a
certain alienation from our work, as the opening quotation of this
article illustrates. Are we part of the solution, or part of the
problem? Also, as the effects of the riots rapidly spread to
surrounding neighborhoods, other cities, and even the presidential
campaign, it became obvious that the two "worlds" aren't really
separate. That burning society we saw on TV wasn't someone else's,
it was ours.
What Can I Do? -- The CPSR/CHI'92 "Social Issues" Session
In the midst of the worst period of rioting, as many of us were
preparing to head to Monterey, the site of CHI'92, Prof. Chris Borgman
of U.C.L.A. sent an e-mail message to several of her acquaintances
across the country, describing what was going on in L.A. and how she
and her friends there felt about it (see Shneiderman, 1992). Prof. Ben
Shneiderman was especially touched by the message. He contacted the
CHI'92 Co-Chairs, Jim Miller and Scooter Morris, and expressed his
desire that the conference should not run its course without
acknowledging the riots and the events that led up to them. Even
though the riots were not directly CHI- or computer-related, he felt
that ignoring them constituted burying our heads in the sand, and would
be morally wrong. Jim and Scooter agreed that something should be
done, but of course by that point the conference schedule was set.
They suggested a special session, during the lunch break just after the
official opening plenary session on Tuesday. Jim also suggested that
CPSR Chair Jeff Johnson be invited to help plan the session.
On Monday evening, Ben and Jeff met to plan the session. What quickly
emerged was a desire not only to acknowledge the distressing external
events and give people a chance to vent their spleens, but also to help
give people the wherewithal to act. To Ben and Jeff, it seemed that
many of their colleagues were angry, upset, worried, or frightened
about what was going on, but didn't know what to do about it, or even
how to find out. They decided that the session should be an
opportunity for people to share ideas on how computer professionals,
their employers, and their professional societies can help address
social problems of the sort that led to the riots. Jeff proposed that
to facilitate the capture and sharing of ideas, session attendees be
asked to submit ideas on paper as well as presenting them verbally.
CPSR volunteered to collect and compile the responses and issue a
report back to the attendees. Later that night, he created a form for
action-ideas, labeled "Constructive Responses to Events in L.A. and
Elsewhere," and made about 60 copies to cover the expected audience.
The next morning, at the opening plenary session, Jim Miller announced
the special session. This was the first that the approximately 2500
attendees at CHI had heard of it.
At the announced time, despite the late notice and the conflict with
lunch, approximately 300 people showed up. Student volunteers quickly
went to make more copies of the "Constructive Responses..." form. Ben
Shneiderman expressed his delight at the number of people who had come
and opened the session, describing his feelings about the riots,
reading Chris Borgman's e-mail message, and giving the intent of the
session. Prof. Borgman then spoke, elaborating on her message and
giving her ideas about what people might do. She was followed by Jeff
Johnson, who talked about growing up in South Central L.A., what it is
like for his relatives who live there now, and about CPSR and some of its
programs.
Members of the audience were then invited to the microphone to share
their ideas about what can be done to resolve social inequities. At
first, people were hesitant to speak, but within fifteen minutes or so
there were more people waiting to speak than there was time for. Some
people described volunteer work they do, some named organizations they
support, some talked about what companies do or should do, and some
talked about what various government bodies should be, but aren't, doing.
Beyond CHI'92
One hundred and ten members of the audience wrote suggestions on the
forms and turned them in. After the conference, CPSR began the process
of compiling the responses and producing the promised report. We found
volunteers to put the responses on-line. We created an e-mail
distribution list consisting of respondents who had provided e-mail
addresses. We took a quick pass through the data, to see if it
contained ideas worth publishing and sharing. It did.
On the basis of our initial look at the responses, the report began to
take shape in our minds. We didn't think it would suffice to simply
list all of the ideas that the session attendees had written. A quick
query sent to the e-mail list confirmed this: session participants
didn't want the raw data or even lightly-digested data; they wanted a
well-digested, well-organized guide to social action, a resource
booklet that goes beyond what people put on their response forms. Not
everyone has been a volunteer or activist, and even those of us who
have can benefit from a complete guidebook on how to make a positive
contribution to society.
Producing such a comprehensive report presented CPSR with a challenge,
for it would require a significant amount of work. For instance, many
respondents mentioned organizations, but it was up to us to provide
contact addresses. We also found some suggestions to be out-of-date,
e.g., organizations that have changed policies. The research necessary
to produce such a report in the months following CHI'92 exceeds what
CPSR's small staff and volunteer-base can deliver. To produce the full
report would require funding to allow us to pay for some of the labor.
We made some initial efforts to get funding, so far without success.
Nonetheless, we were committed to producing a timely report for the
CHI'92 session attendees. With encouragement from Ben Shneiderman, the
two of us decided to write a brief version of the report for SIGCHI
Bulletin. Hopefully, this brief initial report will help attract
funding for a full report.
This report is therefore intended to be the first deliverable of a
possible new CPSR project that would, if funded, provide computer
professionals with information and guidance on how to become "part of
the solution" to pressing social problems. Depending upon funding,
subsequent deliverables may include:
- a moderated e-mail discussion list on social involvement,
- an e-mail archive/server for information on social involvement,
- the aforementioned booklet: "A Guide to Social Action" for
computer professionals, suitable for companies to distribute to
employees, containing an overview of the ways to get involved, a
categorized list of ideas, a directory of organizations, some success
examples, with a sprinkling of interesting quotes from attendees of the
CHI'92 special session.
- a clearinghouse service to help computer professionals and
companies down the road toward social involvement.
In this initial report, we chose to focus on a few of the
most-commonly-suggested ideas, rather than present a shallow overview
of all of them. A more complete list will have to wait until the
booklet. We begin with some comments on what we have learned from this
exercise, then summarize a few of the suggestions, and conclude.
What have we learned from this?
"Tell me how I can help." -- a CHI'92 attendee.
Despite the stereotype of the apolitical, work-obsessed nerd, computer
professionals do care about what goes on in the world. Many are
already involved in volunteer projects, political action, and
critically examining the impact of their work. More importantly, many
more are looking for ways to get involved. The King riots really shook
up a lot of people.
The respondents see potential in themselves, their companies, and their
professional associations, but are concerned that social issues often
get lost in the shuffle of busy people and companies.
CHI conference attendees may not be representative of computer
professionals in general. Their professional focus on the interaction
between people and machines may make them more likely to be concerned
about social issues. However, CPSR members nationwide -- who are not
predominantly CHI members -- have been proving for over a decade that a
computer career and interest in social issues are not mutually exclusive.
There is no shortage of good ideas about how to get involved. The
hundred and ten respondents in the CPSR-CHI special session have
provided a first glimpse, but our feeling is that many more good ideas
remain to be suggested.
Many individuals, organizations, and companies are already doing things
that we can learn from. We needn't design from scratch.
Summary of Responses
"Education is the single most effective and powerful way to change
the situation in a permanent way." -- a CHI'92 attendee.
Our respondents overwhelmingly saw education as fundamental. They
believe that individuals, companies, professional societies, and
various levels of government could be doing much more to support
education than they now are. For example:
- Individuals can tutor disadvantaged kids, teach computer courses or
run computer labs in schools, and speak in schools about their company
and their work.
- Companies can adopt a school, donate equipment and software, and
establish programs in which students visit the workplace to learn what
computer professionals do and what skills they need.
- Professional societies can provide scholarships for high school
kids, encourage individuals and companies to develop education
applications of computer technology, and advocate greater public
funding of education.
Many respondents suggested that individuals and companies donate new
and used computer equipment to schools, community centers, and
non-profit organizations. However, some pointed out that giving
antiquated, unreliable, or inappropriate equipment is almost worse than
unhelpful, in that it can drain valuable time and energy from the
important work that these organizations do. Accordingly, many
non-profits will not accept equipment for which they can no longer find
software, documentation, and maintenance support. To help insure that
donated equipment is effectively used, computer professionals can
donate time and expertise. Otherwise, donated equipment may just sit in a
corner.
Not surprisingly, volunteerism is strongly advocated by our
respondents. Some of their suggestions are:
- Individuals can volunteer in computer labs, get involved with a
organizations that link volunteers with non-profit groups (e.g.,
CompuMentor), or even teach reading in an urban library. A frequent
comment was that literacy is more important than computer literacy.
- Companies can encourage volunteerism by helping match willing
employees with worthy organizations, by allowing employees to share
their skills on company time, and by honoring employees' volunteer efforts.
- Professional societies can encourage volunteerism among
professionals by developing mentor programs in which members work with
urban youth, and by developing computer curricula that professionals
can take into volunteer teaching situations.
"I read to primary students one-half hour per week. I get more out of
that time than the kids, but their focus on me tells me they are
getting a lot out of my time also." -- a CHI'92 attendee.
Several respondents who are involved in volunteer work noted that
volunteering has value far beyond that of the actual work that
volunteers do. It helps build much-needed understanding and trust
between ethnic and socioeconomic groups. It also is beneficial to the
volunteers themselves: they gain teaching experience, social skills,
and a broader perspective on the society in which they live, and often
have fun while doing it.
Computer professionals have learned that access to on-line
communication and information services is a powerful tool for their own
education, communication, and activism. We found that many of them
believe that on-line access would be just as empowering for the public
at large. Middle-class Americans are already beginning to get on-line,
but individuals, companies, and professional societies can make an
extra effort to assure that the poor are not cut out of the loop.
Individuals, companies, and professional societies can help put
communities on-line, as has been done in Berkeley (Community Memory
Project) and Santa Monica (Public Education Network). Such networks
can facilitate communication and discussion not only with other
citizens of a local community, but, depending on how they are connected
to larger networks, with information service providers and even elected
representatives.
"Companies can actively recruit blacks and other minorities. I have
been at CHI for 2 1/2 days and have seen only two blacks with CHI
name tags." -- a CHI'92 attendee.
More of a commitment to affirmative action in hiring and promotion is
seen as a major way in which companies can help overcome social
inequities. This means making an extra effort to find qualified
minorities and women to fill jobs, and, when candidates are equally
qualified (i.e., the difference in their estimated ability to perform
the job is less than the margin of error of the assessment process),
giving the benefit of the doubt to minorities and women. Some
respondents suggested, for example, that companies hold outreach
activities in poor communities to find potential employees.
The respondents recommended awards as a way to encourage computer
companies, academic research projects, and individuals to get involved.
Each year, CPSR recognizes a computer scientist who, in addition to
making important contributions to the field, has demonstrated an
ongoing commitment to working for social change. (ACM activist and IBM
researcher Barbara Simons is CPSR's 1992 Norbert Wiener Award winner.)
Many respondents suggested that SIGCHI or ACM offer an award for
companies that demonstrate a similar commitment through community
projects, encouraging employee volunteerism, or other good works.
The CHI conference itself emerged as an important potential focus of
social action work. Respondents recommended that CHI organizers seek
ways to have a positive impact upon the host community. Local students
-- high-school and college -- could be given tours of exhibits or
scholarships to attend the conference. Equipment used at the
conference could be donated to local schools and organizations.
Respondents also suggested paper and poster sessions devoted to
applying technology to social problems or to understanding social
issues related to computer technology.
"What's underneath are not wounds, but faults -- lines of fracture, of
discontinuity, in society, which periodically relieve their stress in
these violent ways. What can we do about that?" -- a CHI'92 attendee.
Although our respondents provided a wealth of ideas for how we, as
computer professionals and concerned citizens, can offer our time and
skills for the betterment of society, a number of them acknowledged
that charity, volunteering, and technology alone cannot solve political
and social problems. Closing the gap between rich and poor, educated
and illiterate, empowered and disenfranchised will require changes in
basic priorities at the local, state, national, and international
levels. Accordingly, many respondents recommended attempting to
influence the political process, either individually, through
professional associations, or through organizations like CPSR.
Conclusions
"Thanks for the noontime meeting on Tuesday! It was motivating to see
such a strong response." -- a CHI'92 attendee.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you for organizing this forum and bringing
some heart and spirit into this cold, albeit exciting, environment.
Onwards and upwards, I'm with you all the way!" -- a CHI'92 attendee.
"What a wonderful experience to find a humanistic island at a
professional conference!" -- a CHI'92 attendee.
The unexpectedly large response to the noontime session at CHI'92 was
extremely gratifying. Also gratifying is the degree of concern that
members of the CHI community have about social inequities and the
seriousness with which they addressed themselves to overcoming them.
Hopefully, with this report as inspiration, many computer professionals
will begin to take action.
"I'll go back and start asking questions in my company." -- a CHI'92
attendee.
The foregoing has only scratched the surface of the ideas that emerged
from the CHI'92 social issues session. As described above, CPSR hopes
to expand this report into a widely-circulated Social Action Guide, and
eventually provide on-line services to help computer professionals take
action.
To learn more about Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility,
or to get involved in the preparation of the full Social Action Guide,
contact cpsr@csli.stanford.edu.
References
Shneiderman, B. "Socially Responsible Computing I: A Call to Action
Following the L.A. Riots" SIGCHI Bulletin, July, 1992, 24(3), pages 14-15.
------------------------------
From: genek@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Gene Kim)
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 09:02:40 GMT
Subject: Article 6--Beta testers needed for security tool
Announcing the pending availability of
Tripwire: A Unix File Integrity Checker
This message is being posted to various newsgroups and mailing
lists to gather a group of beta-testers for a new security tool called
Tripwire. Tripwire was written by Gene Kim, currently at Purdue
University, under the direction of Professor Gene Spafford.
Tripwire should be of significant interest to system
administrators concerned about timely detection of system file
tampering on their Unix hosts.
Goal of Tripwire:
=================
With the advent of increasingly sophisticated and subtle
account break-ins on Unix systems, the need for tools to aid the
detection of unauthorized modification of files becomes clear.
Tripwire is a tool that aids system administrators and users in
monitoring a designated set of files for any changes. Used with
system files on a regular basis, Tripwire can notify system
administrators of corrupted or tampered files, so damage control
measures can be taken in a timely manner.
Tripwire is a system file integrity checker, a utility that
compares a designated set of files and directories against
information stored in a previously generated database. Any
differences are flagged and logged, and optionally, a user is
notified through mail. When run against system files on a
regular basis, changes in critical system files would be spotted
at the next time-interval when Tripwire is run, so damage
control measures may be implemented immediately. With
Tripwire, system administrators can conclude with a high degree
of certainty that a given set of files remain untouched from
unauthorized modifications, provided the program and database are
appropriately protected (e.g., stored on read-only disk).
Tripwire uses message digest algorithms (cryptographic
checksums) to detect changes in a hard-to-spoof manner. This
should be able to detect significant changes to critical files,
including those caused by insertion of backdoors or viruses. It
also monitors changes to file permissions, modification times,
and other significant changes to inodes as selected by the system
administrator on a per-file/directory basis.
What we need:
=============
As of this writing, Tripwire runs successfully on both BSD
and System V variants of Unix. Among the operating systems
Tripwire has run on are:
SunOS 5.x (SVR4)
SunOS 4.x (BSD 4.3)
Dynix 3.x (BSD 4.2)
Compiling Tripwire should be as simple as editing the config.h
file to set the appropriate #defines, and typing 'make'.
A pool of beta-testers is needed to ensure that Tripwire
works predictably on a wide variety of systems. Of particular
interest are system administrators using the following operating
systems:
AIX
AUX
BSD4.4
HP/UX
Mach
NextOS
OSF/1
SVR3.x
Ultrix
Unicos
Xenix
System III
Versions 6, 7, 8, & 9 :-)
other versions we didn't list
A config.h file allows you to tailor Tripwire around your
system specifics, such as the locations of system utilities (like
sort and diff), and desired lookup pathnames to your Tripwire
database files.
Possible porting trouble-spots are generally restricted to
dirent(S5)/direct(BSD) funkiness and #defines that changed for
POSIX compliance (such as those in <sys/types.h> for stat.st_mode).
Hopefully the process of beta-testing will highlight any
problems before any widely-released distribution. It is also
hoped that reasonable system defaults for a wide variety of
systems can be gathered from a diverse set of beta-testers.
This would allow useful plug-and-play builds for the majority of
Tripwire users.
What you'd get as a beta-tester:
================================
The entire source to Tripwire, manual pages, a README, and
the Tripwire design document.
What you'd need to do:
======================
You will need to install the code on your system and run
it. You will need to report back any bugfixes, enhancements,
optimizations or other code-diddling that you believe useful. If
you build a configuration file for a new system, you will need
to send this back. You will have to collect some performance
data. You will need to provide some honest, critical feedback on
utility, clarity, documentation, etc.
You will need to do all this by about October 21.
Are you interested?
===================
If so, please fill out the form at the end of this message, and
send it to (genek@mentor.cc.purdue.edu). We will only take two or
three respondents for each system type for the beta test.
Please allow some time for processing and selection of
beta-testers. I promise to reply to all requests as
expeditiously as possible.
A formal release of Tripwire is planned for sometime in
November. Watch this space for details!
Gene Kim
September 4, 1992
===============================================================================
Name:
Email address:
System configuration:
machine type
operating system
version
Site information: (completely optional)
type of site (ie: university, corporate, military, etc...)
comments on machine security
(ie: numerous break-in attempts on our dialback servers,
repeated intrusions through network, etc...)
===============================================================================
------------------------------
From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi>
Date: Mon Oct 12 08:50
Subject: Linux 0.98.1 Information
finger torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi
Free UN*X for the 386
The current version of linux is a 0.98.1, released 92.10.04. There are
various rootdisks that work with the newer versions, although some of
them have problems. A new SLS release is expected soonish, using either
a 0.97.pl6 or 0.98.1 kernel release.
0.98.1 supports X11r5 and the new gcc-2.1 (and newer) libraries with
multiple shared libs - as well as any old binaries (except the 0.12
version of gdb which used the older ptrace() interface). It also
contains support for debugging (core-dumping and attach/detach) as well
as profiling: use gcc-2.2.2d for full utilization of all these features.
Linux can be gotten by anonymous ftp from 'nic.funet.fi' (128.214.6.100)
in the directory '/pub/OS/Linux'. This directory structure contains all
the linux OS- and library-sources, and enough binaries to get going. To
install linux you still need to know something about unices: it's
relatively straightforward to install, but the documentation sucks raw
eggs, and people with no previous unix experience are going to get very
confused.
There are now a lot of other sites keeping linux archives. The main
ones (as well as the above-mentioned nic.funet.fi) are:
tsx-11.mit.edu (18.172.1.2):
directory /pub/linux
sunsite.unc.edu (152.2.22.81):
directory /pub/Linux
(and many additional sites: there are now sites in the uk, japan etc
that carry linux, but I have lost count)
There is also a mailing list set up 'Linux-activists@niksula.hut.fi'.
To join, mail a request to 'Linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi'.
It's no use mailing me: I have no actual contact with the mailing-list
(other than being on it, naturally).
There is also a newsgroup that contain linux-related questions and
information: comp.os.linux.
Mail me for more info:
Linus Torvalds (torvalds@kruuna.Helsinki.FI)
Pietarinkatu 2 A 2
00140 Helsinki
Finland
0.98.1 has mainly minor bug-fixes
0.98 has these features:
- tcp/ip in the standard kernel sources.
- corrected serial startup checkh~g and setserial ioctl
- core-dumping corrections
- various minor fixes
0.97.pl6 has these new features:
- corrected named pipe problem in pl5
- dynamic tty queues (no NR_PTY limit etc). Patches by tytso
- corrected SCSI codes. Patches by Eric
0.97.pl5 has these features:
- corrected *MAJOR* problem with [f]truncate() system calls
- swapoff()/wait4() system calls
- corrected some race-conditions in the minix fs
- major mm rewrite: 3GB virtual process size, faster swapping
- filesystem error reporting corrections
- minor bugfixes
0.97 has these major new things relative to 0.96
- select() through the VFS routines
- easily installable IRQ's
- bus-mouse driver
- msdos filesystem (alpha)
- extended filesystem (alpha)
- serial line changes (faster, changeable irq's etc)
- dynamic buffer-cache
- new and improved SCSI drivers
------------------------------
From: Chris Cappuccio <chris%aotnet@mcnnet.mi.org>
Subject: Article 8--Fixed Problems With The aotd Mailserver
Date: 10-16-92
Ok, well after I got my computer connected with UUCP (I'm still not a
registered system but soon I expect to register with the local UUCP stuff
and also get a domain name in mi.org) I tried to subscribe to the aotd list
with my account on my machine (aotnet) but I couldin't. It turned out, because
we put some more security from people using the mailing list, that mike
also accidentaly changed the list name. Well this is fixed now. To subscribe to
Art of Technology Digest, do *exactly* this:
mail mailserv@batpad.lgb.ca.us
Leave the Subject: line blank
Put this in the text of your message: SUBSCRIBE aotd
and you will be put on the mailing list. You should wait 1-24 hours for a
response. I am not using my computer as the mailserver because I only have a
2400 baud (or bps, whatever you like) modem and no mailserver software. Oh,
one more thing, you can get back issues of AoT-D from wuarchive.wustl.edu
under directory: /pub/aot/. Enjoy!
------------------------------
**********************************
End of Art of Technology Digest #6
--
Chris Cappuccio - Art of Technology Digest - chris%aotnet@mcnnet.mi.org
