2600 Flash
Big Brother No Longer Watching Miami
City officials who stirred up visions of George Orwell's "Big Brother" when they installed video cameras to detect street crime have decided the project wasn't such a good idea after all.
So three years and almost $300,000 later, the city has abandoned its "Television Police Protection" system, saying it failed to record one crime.
The city had the cameras installed in February 1982 but for numerous technical reasons the system wasn't turned on until that June.
The project called for 20 cameras to be mounted on a rotating basis in 100 camera housings mounted on poles, thus keeping criminals off guard.
Another larger camera was mounted atop a 14-story building on Lincoln Road to sweep the length of both streets for a broad overview.
But the system had trouble. "We had continual maintenance problems with constant adjustment of the microwave," Police Chief Kenneth Glassman said. One civilian made so much fuss about police watching the monitors and not patrolling the streets that the department took police off the project. Another problem was in lack of interest from civilian volunteers assigned to watch the monitors. Many times, even the few working monitors went unwatched.
Computers Seized as Summer Games Begin
The home computers of four Huntsville, Alabama teenagers were seized by the FBI last month after an illegal tap into NASA computers. The unauthorized taps, according to the FBI, destroyed records and blocked scientists from using the computers. The FBI seized computers, printers, floppy disks, and software that allegedly were used to tap into two computers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. They contained no classified information, according to NASA officials.
Cecil Moses, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Birmingham office, said an investigation is continuing. He said no charges have been filed, but may be later.
House: Hacking is Bad
The House of Representatives has voted 395-0 for a bill that would make it a federal crime to gain access to computer memory banks without permission. The legislation would combine the attack on hackers with an attempt to stop those who manufacture or possess fraudulent credit cards or use someone's credit card number without his or her knowledge.
More PC Jr's, Less Z-100's for Soviets
The United States, 13 NATO allies and Japan have jointly agreed to impose broad, new export controls on the sale of small computers and sophisticated telephone equipment to nations of the Soviet bloc. The agreement comes after two and a half years of difficult negotiations.
The accord, which was reached at the urging of the U.S., expands the existing NATO embargo on the sale of large sophisticated computers to include smaller models that could have military applications. This means that many of the more expensive personal computers now available at retail outlets in the United States will be subject to export controls in the future.
Also, the agreement sets maximum levels of technological sophistication for digital switching and other telephone equipment supplied to the Eastern Bloc by Western corporations.
The Reagan Administration took the most restrictive line throughout the embargo review talks, diplomats say, with the Europeans and Japanese advocating a more liberal approach to trade with the Communist world. The U.S., though, did agree to liberalize the sale of some less advanced computers to the Eastern Bloc countries in return for joint Western restrictions on the sale of certain powerful small computers.
In addition, the Western powers have undertaken to ban the export of "ruggedized" computers, built to withstand rough treatment and thus suitable for battlefield use.
Federal Express Offers "E-Mail"
Memphis-based Federal Express, which pioneered next-day private postal service.,is now promising even greater speed with Zapmail, its long-awaited version of electronic mail. For as little as $25 for a missive of five pages or less and up to $50 for a maximum of 20 pages, Federal Express will zap letters and documents across the U.S. within two hours. Unlike other outfits, Federal Express does not require its customers to use computer keyboards to enter messages. Instead a courier comes and picks it up, takes it to a Federal Express office, where clerks feed it into a document scanner for transmission over land lines. At the receiving Federal Express office, a laser printer will spew out copies for couriers to deliver immediately. [No, this is not electronic mail in the bona fide sense.] The firm even vows to give full refunds if documents are late.
ITT Wiping Out Fee
On September 1, ITT will drop the monthly service fee it charges users of its long-distance telephone service. The fees currently are $5 a month for residential customers and $10 a month for business users. ITT also said it would introduce discounts for high-volume callers, and said its residential customers would be able to reach any telephone in the continental United States. Previously, only ITT's business customers had nationwide calling. ITT is ranked eighth among long-distance carriers with about 125,000 customers.
800 Directories Now Available
Starting in the middle of September, AT&T will at last start offering directories to toll-free numbers. Previously, the only way to get such a directory was through scanning, trashing, or buying a directory printed by an outside company. There are two versions being offered. One is for people and sells for $6.25 while the other is for businesses and sells for $8.75. Info can be had by calling 800-242-4634. If that doesn't work from your area, call 800-555-1212 and demand an explanation. Billing won't be done through your phone bill,as one might expect. "We don't have that kind of capability yet" they said to us.
Ice Cream Chain Aides Selective Service
The Selective Service System has defended its use of a mailing list compiled by a national chain of ice cream stores to advise young men that they were liable for draft registration.
However, the government will be returning the computerized list of 167,000 names to the company.
Alexander Hehmeyer, executive vice president and general counsel of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, a chain of almost 100 ice cream stores, said both he and the company were "upset and outraged" by this "act of Big Brother government."
For many years the retail outlets of Farrell's have had customers fill out a birthday form so that they would get birthday cards from the company entitling them to free ice cream sundaes. The Selective Service bought the Farrell's list in 1983 from a list broker in New Jersey. Last October, the system began using the list to mail 1,500 to t 3,500 warning cards a month to young men whose listed birthdays indicated they were about to turn 18.
Besides commercial lists, the Selective Service relies on state agencies that license drivers and the Defense Department, which compiles a list of high school graduates.