Computer underground Digest Sun May 17, 1998 Volume 10 : Issue 30 ISSN 1004-042X Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu) News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest CONTENTS, #10.30 (Sun, May 17, 1998) File 1--Fwd: Pentagon Disavows Hackers' Warnings File 2--REVIEW: "Beyond Calculation", Peter J. Denning/Robert M. Metcalf File 3--1998 EPIC Cryptography and Privacy Conference File 4--Upcoming Conferences & Events (EPIC fwd) File 5--Third Annual 3D Design Conference and Exhibition May 19-22 File 6--CFP: Electronic Communication & Culture File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 25 Apr, 1998) CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ApPEARS IN THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE. --------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Cu digest Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:03:16 EDT Subject: File 1--Fwd: Pentagon Disavows Hackers' Warnings Pentagon Disavows Hackers' Warnings .c The Associated Press By CHRIS ALLBRITTON NEW YORK (AP) - Hackers who broke into Pentagon computers and bragged that they had stolen the means to cripple the military's communications network instead took publicly available software that is almost worthless without the data to run it, security consultants and the Defense Department say. Security experts around the world scoffed Monday at the claims made by a hacker group calling itself "Masters of Downloading." Last week, the group's 15 hackers said they broke into computers at the Defense Information Systems Agency and stole software. The program, they said, controls the military's Global Positioning System of satellites that are used to target missiles and coordinate troop movements. Supporting assertions, Bornstein provided The Associated Press a link to the software available to anyone with a Web browser. The Masters of Downloading "are just trying to scare people," the consultant said. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 08:47:22 -0800 From: "Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor" Subject: File 2--REVIEW: "Beyond Calculation", Peter J. Denning/Robert M. Metcalf BKBYDCAL.RVW 980207 "Beyond Calculation", Peter J. Denning/Robert M. Metcalfe, 1997, 0-387-94932-1, U$27.00 %A Peter J. Denning %A Robert M. Metcalfe bob_metcalfe@infoworld.com %C 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010 %D 1997 %G 0-387-94932-1 %I Springer-Verlag %O U$27.00 212-460-1500 800-777-4643 wborden@springer-ny.com %P 313 p. %T "Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing" Fortune telling is a mugs game. The more so in a rapidly changing field like information technology, where a single technical innovation can advance the work ten years, and a business instigated lawsuit can retard development a like amount. As James Burke points out in the foreword, invention changes life and society in elusive ways that are difficult to observe and almost impossible to predict. However, if anyone can give us a glimpse of what might be ahead, it is the stellar who's who of computing represented by most of the pieces gathered in these pages. It is also worth noting that Denning and Metcalfe have done a superior job in grouping, organizing, and introducing the essays. However, while all of the papers are informed, and many are stimulating, too many of them signally fail to boldly go where computing hasn't already been. Part one of the book looks to the technical developments that we can reasonably foresee over the next fifty years. Bell and Gray start off in "The Revolution Yet to Happen" with a review of the growth (and shrinkage) of computing hardware based on past trends, which indicates a future of massive numbers of high powered computers per person and a ubiquitous network linking everything. Cerf presents a scenario of what computers will be like "When They're Everywhere" as well. Frankston acknowledges the problems with endlessly projecting current growth trends, but points out that developments outside the information technology field will help us go "Beyond Limits." If we miss the mark in estimating the future it will probably be because of failing to see the forest of evolution for the trees of specific technologies, or, as Dijkstra puts it, "The Tide, Not the Waves." Hamming also tells us "How to Think About Trends" in considering the progress of computing itself, outside fields, and society at large. Weiser and Brown project a "Coming Age of Calm Technology" from an extension of historical "periods" of computing. These papers are thought provoking, but certain omissions, like the lack of mention of the age of the minicomputer, point out the haste of preparation that went into the book. Other gaps point out the volunteer nature of the book: although all but one of the essays sees great things coming from networking, and although a number of the authors have contributed to networking, none is primarily involved with telecommunications. An advance in routing technology and the assignment of a small section of spectrum to personal computer use would have more impact on computing than any breakthrough that would allow Moore's law to continue beyond 2010. Part two looks at the topic of human-machine interaction, largely in the broadest interpretation of the concept of machine intelligence, and at the impact that may have upon who we are as human beings. Unlike the network basis of Tapscott's "Growing Up Digital" (cf. BKGRUPDI.RVW), Turkle explores "Growing Up in the Culture of Simulation." Her points are interesting, but not, perhaps, compelling, relying as much on fairy tales as on harder forms of reality. In "Why It's Good That Computers Don't Work Like the Brain,", Norman states that machine and human intelligence cannot be compared because they are orthogonal and complementary. He raises a number of interesting questions but, somewhat frustratingly, doesn't address them. In "The Logic of Dreams," on the other hand, Gelernter proposes that we examine and try to model even more areas of human cognition, even those as seemingly non-mechanical as emotion. Alt generally seems to agree with Norman, and in "End-Running Human Intelligence" he suggests some interesting areas where expert systems may supplant, or at least assist, human experts. Abrahams suggests that difficulty of design as well as societal factors may hinder the computer and robotic target of "A World Without Work." However, his assertion that sex, preaching, art and other activities are strictly limited to human endeavour I find less than compelling in view of fetishists, televangelists, and "Danielle Steel" knock-offs that are acceptable to steadfast fans. (For the purposes of this review, we will not enter into disputes as to whether writings by Danielle Steel constitute art.) In "The Design of Interaction," Winograd traces the history of information technology from computing to communication, from hardware to specific application (in stark contrast to the attempts of any entire generation of computer literacy teachers to explain the computer as a toolbox), and from oddity to personal tool. (My own projection of these trends is to envisage a person surrounded by a host of well informed tutors for any task, but I don't think this is where Winograd goes with it.) In terms of prognostication this section is disappointing since, with the exception of Alt, most of the essays are generally philosophical without much attempt made to project ideas forward. Business and innovation is the topic of part three, but, again, more of it looks back than forward. Evans description of IBM as "The Stumbling Titan" may have lessons to suggest, but it doesn't say where the next decade will lead, let alone fifty years. In "The Leaders of the Future" Flores traces the movement from computing to communications, and then extends it to articulation of business vision. His extension, however, is little more than an assertion without analysis of how advances in technology will make this possible. Data security is under increasing attack from "ease of use" in technology. Druffel's look at "Information Warfare" shows that the current situation is pretty deplorable but it doesn't go much beyond that. A staple of the cyberpunk genre is the rise of the corporation beyond the state. Mowshowitz does visit this future in "Virtual Feudalism" but doesn't try to test it against the virtual corporations mentioned elsewhere. Chamberlin's vision of "Sharing Our Planet" raises interesting and fairly convincing points about the fact of evolution in software, but his cultural prediction seems to rest mostly on wish fulfillment. In "There and Not There," Mitchell and Strimpel's review of telepresence starts out by noting that presence costs. Unfortunately, they don't follow up with the obvious corollary: that, due to bandwidth, high fidelity telepresence is going to have a cost as well. Tsichritzis tells us that "The Dynamics of Innovation" have to change, but his proposal seems to be merely a restating of the old battle between basic research and technical development. Similarly, Dennings' exposition of "How We Will Learn" is a market forces based view of the time-hallowed spat between universities and technical institutes, vocational schools, or even guild halls. To a certain extent, I feel a lack of imagination in these writings. There is discussion of networking, but not distributed processing, as an extension of parallel processing, or Fred Cohen's proposed viral computing environment, as an extension of both. While this hesitation on the part of the authors may be disappointing, at least the material is a great deal more thoughtful and thought provoking than too many of the blue sky visions of the road ahead. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998 BKBYDCAL.RVW 980207 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 08:43:18 -0400 From: "EPIC-News List" Subject: File 3--1998 EPIC Cryptography and Privacy Conference Top Government Officials, Industry Leaders, Cryptography Experts and Public Interest Advocates to Discuss Encryption Policy Washington, DC Monday, June 8, 1998 http://www.epic.org/events/crypto98/ Top government officials -- including Senator John Ashcroft (R-MO), William Reinsch (Undersecretary of Commerce for Export Administration) and Robert Litt (Principal Associate Attorney General) -- will discuss current U.S. encryption policy at the largest policy conference on cryptography ever held in Washington, D.C. Other leading experts from government, industry, public interest community and academia will also debate important legal, political technical issues. If you are interested in cryptography policy, this is the one meeting you must attend! The 1998 EPIC Cryptography and Privacy Conference is organized by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, in cooperation with the Harvard University Information Infrastructure Project and the Technology Policy Research Group of the London School of Economics. - THE 1998 EPIC CRYPTOGRAPHY AND PRIVACY CONFERENCE - HIGHLIGHTS o Meet the technical experts, industry leaders, litigators, and policy makers who are shaping the global debate over encryption and privacy. o Get the latest news, reports, legislative information, and technical results. o Receive the 1998 edition of the highly-acclaimed EPIC Cryptography and Privacy Sourcebook. THE PANELS o Top US government officials will debate top industry representatives on current U.S. policy on domestic restrictions, export controls, and pending legislation. o A panel of senior government officials from France, England, Canada, Germany and the European Union will describe encryption policies in their countries and future trends. o Leading cryptographers and technical experts will discuss the dangers and benefits of key escrow and key recovery systems and other important technical issues. o Attorneys representing the plaintiffs and the U.S. Government in the pending legal challenges to the constitutionality of export controls will discuss and debate the cases and their outcomes. FEES: Register before May 15 for reduced fee. Standard o $300.00 (before May 15) / $400.00 (after May 15) Academic/Govt/501(c)(3) o $150.00 (before May 15) / $200.00 (after May 15) MORE INFORMATION, FULL AGENDA AND ONLINE REGISTRATION: http://www.epic.org/events/crypto98/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 17:34:29 -0400 From: "EPIC-News List" Subject: File 4--Upcoming Conferences & Events (EPIC fwd) EPIC Alert, 5.06 (May 12, 1998) ======================================================================= [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events ======================================================================= The Threats to Democracy Conference. May 15-18. Washington D.C. Sponsored by People For the American Way. Contact: balcomgrp@aol.com SCRAMBLING FOR SAFETY: Privacy, security and commercial implications of the UK and EU crypto policy announcements. 29th May 1998. London, UK. Sponsored by Cambridge University. contact: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/sfs98.html Ethics and Technology. June 5-6. San Jose, CA. Sponsored by Santa Clara University. Contact: www.scu.edu/ethics/ 1998 EPIC Cryptography and Privacy Conference. June 8, 1998. Washington, DC. Sponsored by EPIC, Harvard University and London School of Economics. Contact: http://www.epic.org/events/crypto98/ Net Censorship In Europe. June 9, 1998. Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Freedom Forum. Contact: apowell@freedomforum.org INET'98, July 21-24, 1998, Geneva, Switzerland. Sponsored by Internet Society. Contact: http://www.isoc.org/inet98/ Advances in Social Informatics and Information Systems, Baltimore, MD, Aug. 14-16, 1998. Sponsored by the Association for Information Systems Contact: http://info.cwru.edu/rlamb/ais98cfp.htm CPSR Annual Conference - Internet Governance. Boston, Mass, Oct. 10-11. Sponsored by CPSR. contact: cpsr@cpsr.org PDC 98 - the Participatory Design Conference, "Broadening Participation" November 12-14, 1998. Seattle, Washington. Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility in cooperation with ACM and CSCW 98. Contact: http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/pdc98 1999 RSA Data Security Conference. San Jose, California, January 18-21, 1999. Sponsored by RSA. Contact: http://www.rsa.com/conf99/ (Send calendar submissions to alert@epic.org) ======================================================================= Subscription Information ======================================================================= The EPIC Alert is a free biweekly publication of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send email to epic-news@epic.org with the subject: "subscribe" (no quotes) or "unsubscribe". A Web-based form is available at: http://www.epic.org/alert/subscribe.html Back issues are available at: http://www.epic.org/alert/ ======================================================================= About EPIC ======================================================================= The Electronic Privacy Information Center is a public interest research center in Washington, DC. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging privacy issues such as the Clipper Chip, the Digital Telephony proposal, national ID cards, medical record privacy, and the collection and sale of personal information. EPIC is sponsored by the Fund for Constitutional Government, a non-profit organization established in 1974 to protect civil liberties and constitutional rights. EPIC publishes the EPIC Alert, pursues Freedom of Information Act litigation, and conducts policy research. For more information, e-mail info@epic.org, http://www.epic.org or write EPIC, 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20003. +1 202 544 9240 (tel), +1 202 547 5482 (fax). If you'd like to support the work of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, contributions are welcome and fully tax-deductible. Checks should be made out to "The Fund for Constitutional Government" and sent to EPIC, 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 301, Washington DC 20003. Individuals with First Virtual accounts can donate at http://www.epic.org/epic/support.html Your contributions will help support Freedom of Information Act and First Amendment litigation, strong and effective advocacy for the right of privacy and efforts to oppose government regulation of encryption and funding of the digital wiretap law. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 15:46:58 -0400 (EDT) From: mds@mds.prwire.com Subject: File 5--Third Annual 3D Design Conference and Exhibition May 19-22 Third Annual 3D Design Conference and Exhibition Kicks Off May 19-22 At the Moscone Center in San Francisco SAN FRANCISCO, April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Miller Freeman, Inc., one of the world's largest publishers and trade show producers, announced today the third annual 3D Design Conference and Exhibition, May 19-22, 1998, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Kelly Dove, editor-in-chief of 3D Design magazine and member of the conference advisory board said, "This is the most targeted technical education available for advanced graphics professionals who want to stay on top of one of the hottest, fastest moving areas of the computer graphics market. Computer-generated 3D design is now an essential component in a wide array of fields that range from architecture, mechanical engineering and forensics, to animation, digital video, special effects and web design." "The industry's most talented designers and animators are the instructors at this conference, while the exhibition features more than 40 companies providing hardware, software and services. The event brings together very focused resources and provides an abundance of interactive opportunities for attendees to discuss design and technology challenges with peers and experts in the field," said Dove. The 3D Design Conference and Exhibition will feature four days of more than 60 high-level technical classes that provide practical tips and techniques. Topics include: animation, modeling characters, architectural modeling, lighting, integrating sound, adding detail to objects with texture mapping, and maximizing features in specific software programs such as Alias|Wavefront, 3D Studio MAX, Electric Image, and LightWave. "The conference is dedicated to providing highly relevant and focused courses for graphics professionals committed to elevating their understanding and skill in 3D design and related fields. Producing effective results with artistic integrity and time efficiency is the overriding emphasis of all course offerings," said Frank Agnello, systems sales engineer for The Waterford Group and conference chair. Speakers and instructors at the conference come from major film and special effects studios including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Digital Domain, Pacific Data Images (PDI), and Will Vinton Studios. The exhibition hall will be open May 20 and 21, from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. respectively, and will showcase the latest and most innovative 3D design technologies. Sponsors include IBM(R) IntelliStation, AccelGraphics, Symmetric, and Cosmo Software (A Silicon Graphics division). An added highlight this year is the Z-Zone, a hands-on digital lab where attendees of all levels can try out a wide variety of computer graphics equipment such as 3D digitizers, prototyping equipment, large format inkjet printers and plotters, and actually take away samples of their work from the lab. The keynote speaker at the conference is Tom Turpin, president and CEO, Will Vinton Studios, Wednesday, May 20, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. The general session speakers are Eric Darnell and Larry Guterman, co-directors of "Antz," the first fully computer animated feature film produced by DreamWorks/Pacific Data Images, on Thursday, May 21, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. Turpin, with his unique combination of passion and expertise in visual arts, digital technology and business training, has enjoyed an impressive and varied business career, working in finance and venture capital. Prior to joining Will Vinton Studios, he served as president and CEO of Virgin Sound and Vision. Will Vinton studios is best known for infusing life and personality into inanimate objects through stop-motion, CGI, cel animation, animatronics and Claymation(R), and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for its commercials, films, TV specials and videos. Returning this year are the prestigious 3D Design magazine Big Kahuna Awards, which honor creativity and inventiveness in 3D design, on Thursday, May 21, 7 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. This annual competition showcases some of the best 3D design and animation of the year in several distinct categories, including: Character Design, Commercial and Non-Commercial Animation, Interactive 3D (VRML, Web, Games), Architectural Visualization, Print Graphics, Scientific/Medical, Industrial/Mechanical, Best Logo/Corporate ID, 3D Cartoon, Totally Twisted, and Fantasy World. In addition, two local user groups will hold meetings during the conference which will be open to conference and exhibition attendees: Women in Animation and San Francisco SIGGRAPH. To order a program guide and complete list of classes and exhibitors call 800-789-2223, or fax 888-811-7391. From outside the U.S. call 817-255-8050 or fax 817-255-8070. Complete conference information and registration is available on the Web at www.3dshow.com. Headquartered in San Francisco, Miller Freeman, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of United News & Media plc, one of the world's largest publishers and trade show organizers. With divisions in Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S., Miller Freeman produces more than 290 publications and 380 events serving 49 markets worldwide, including 3D Design, Cadence, Digital Video, InterActivity and Game Developer. Trade shows include the 3D Design Conference and Exhibition, DV Expo, The New Animation Technology Conference & Exposition, The Computer Game Developers' Conference, The Music Technology Conference & Exposition, and many others. SOURCE Miller Freeman, Inc. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 11:56:12 -0500 From: Jon Epstein Subject: File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 25 Apr, 1998) Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are available at no cost electronically. 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