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MAY - IUN
THE COMPUTER LAW AND SECURITY REPORT
[1990-91 ] 7 CLSR
BOOK REVIEWS EXPERT SYSTEMS
HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY
Expert systems for Business - Concepts and Applications, by Baur and Pigford, 1990 (Chapman & Hall), 395 pp., £15.95, ISBN 0-534-98218-2. The aim of this book is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of expert systems and how they are developed. To assist the user's achievement of this goal, a specific expert system development tool - VP-Expert - is included. The first part of the book examines the theory of expert systems and provides the user with a broad analysis of the concepts. These include discussion of what is meant by intelligence, both human and artificial, and how intelligent computing compares with conventional computing. There is also examination of what is meant by applied artificial intelligence and how expert systems fit into the picture. The advantages and limitations are also discussed, as it the role of AI in the business world. The second section explores expert systems in general and explains the purpose of using VP-Expert - a tool to develop expert systems. This section also helps the reader through the initial tasks of making back-up discs, formatting discs and making data discs. The book is intended for a variety of users, particularly those with some background experience of IBM or IBM compatible computers. No prior knowledge or experience with expert systems, or development tools, is required, although those that do have some experience in the subject will find the book of greater value. Available from Chapman & Hall, 2-6 Boundary Road, London, SE1 8HN.
Electronics, Computers and Telephone Switching, by R J Chapuis and A E Joel, 1990 (North-Holland Studies in Telecommunication, 12), 428 pp., US $90.001 Df1.175.00, ISBN 0 ~.~. 38042-9. This book is the second volume of an analysis of the technological history of telephone switching. Volume One, published in 1982, covered the period from 1878 to 1978. This retraces 18 years and covers the period 1960 to 1985. The purpose of the book lies outside the usual framework of studies devoted to technology in a given branch of industry. Its main objective is to show how, in only two decades, the highly specialised telephone switching industry has been completely transformed, and how it revolutionised the manufacturing processes and products involved. These developments have gone largely unnoticed by the public, despite the fact that the changes have been so drastic that it has been compared to the metamorphosis of the insect from its caterpillar phase to that of the butterfly. The book contains some very interesting and original material and will provide the technological historian with a considerable degree of interesting data. Sections deal with the routes of electronic switching; the beginnings of the computer industry; semi-conductor research and micro-electronics developments; the early development of electronic switching, and the advent of the digital revolution. Later sections deal with the later generations of post-1980 digital systems; telephone signalling in the electronic era, and an economic analysis of the environment for switching in 1985 compared with 1960. Available from Elsevier Science Publishers, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands, or in US/Canada from Elsevier Science Publishing Co Inc, PO Box 882, Madison Square Station, New York, NY 10159, USA.
Benefits and Risksof Knowledge-Based Systems. Report of the Working Party Council for Science and Society, 1989 (Oxford University Press), 76 pp., £6.95, ISBN 0-19-854743-9. The Council for Science and Society is a registered charity and was created in 1973 with the object of 'promoting the study of, and research into, the social effect of science and technology, and of disseminating the results thereof to the public'. The Council's primary task is therefore to stimulate informed public discussion in the field of the 'social responsibility of the scientist" It does this by looking for developments in science and technology, where the social consequences lie just beyond the horizon and where no full-scale debate has yetbegun. The Council performs this task in a number of ways, including the organisation of conferences, seminars and colloquia. Major studies are conducted by ad hoc working parties composed of experts working in the relevant field. In this context, this report looks at the potential benefits and possible dangers of a new form of advanced information technology - knowledge-based systems. These are advice-giving computer programs which are becoming popular in a growing range of institutions in society - commercial, financial and manufacturing companies; medical, welfare, educational and legal services; policy making bodies, such as central and local government and the military. The first chapter analyses what knowledge-based systems are and how they produce their advice. Chapter Two surveys a varied range of specific applications in the areas of finance, the law, education, the military and health. Chapter Three outlines the views of supporters and critics of these systems and attempts to identify those applications which might be suitable to the application of knowledge-based techniques, as opposed to those which might not. The final chapter examines a number of suggestions about how these systems can be produced responsibly and used appropriately. There is also a list of the conclusions and recommendations agreed by the working party. The main proposal is that education about knowledge-based systems should become an integral part of literacy teaching in schools. There is also an urgent need for more undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary study programs in cognitive sciences and in knowledge-based systems. The working party also calls on the Government to support the technology in the health education and health care fields. Available from Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP.
IT STANDARDIZATION An analysis of the information technology standardization process, edited by J L Berg and H Schumny, 1990 (North Holland), 492 pp., US $92.751Df1.190.00, ISBN 0-J.A.A.-87390-2. This book contains the key papers from the First International Symposium on Information Technology Standardization, which took place at Braunschweig in The Federal Republic of Germany from the 4th to 7th July, 1989. The objective of the conference was to bring together leaders from technical, economic, political and standards making fields, to discuss the subject in an unlimited, independent and interdisciplinary fashion. Among the topics discussed during the conference, and featured in the book, are how the IT standardization process can be made more efficient; which current IT standards are the most appropriate, and how can the successful features of such standards be recreated elsewhere; what improvements to the quality of such standards are needed; which organisation should be involved; what permanent changes in the IT standardization scene are necessary; at what point in the evolution of a technology is it appropriate to produce standards; and is strategic planning feasible in the current standardization approach? Available from Elsevier Science Publishers, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands, or in the USA/Canada from ElsevierSciencePublishing Co Inc, PO Box 882 Madison Square Station, New York, NY 10159, USA. Computer Software ProtectionlUabilitylLawlForms, by L J Kutten, ReleaseFive,July l~J0 (Clark Boardman), US $85.00, ISBN 0-87632-547-9. This current release of Computer Software by L J Kutten and provides some significant additions to the existing text. It also expands the treatise into a second volume. The work provides current judicial and statutory developments that have occurred since the fourth release. Significant additions include a new appendix detailing how to choose and use a computer consultant; a new appendix supplying sample jury instructions in a software
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liability case; a new section on the types of computer viruses, with discussion of who to sue, what theory of liability to use, and what the legislative response to viruses has been; added discussion of copyright protection of automated databases as compilations; expanded analysis of recent interpretation of the patentability of software, including the 1989 PTO guidelines of patentable subject matter; further discussion on the tax aspects of computer software, dealing with the taxation of data procession and firmware, and the State software taxation exemption, with chart. Available from Clark Boardman Co Ltd, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014, USA.
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professionals. I have also drawn on more than a few frustrations experienced in taking this organisation from its birth to its current stage of adolescent struggle for identity." The goal of the book is to raise awareness of the risks and potential of computer crime. The author hopes that people will wake up to the realities and start acting to fight the danger. The author's philosophy is that computer and communications technology is essential to cultural survival - "They are increasingly the basis of new business systems, new scientific research strategies, new forms of flterary expression, and new ways of thought". The book is packed with interesting accounts of real cases, including the recent episode in which Colonel Oliver North failed to wipe out back-up notes of his activities concerning the IranContra affair. Available from Charles Letts& Co Ltd (see above).
COMPUTER CRIME Beating the System - Hackers, Phreakers and Electronic Spies, by Owen Bowcott and Sally Hamilton (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1990), 198pp., £7.99, ISBN 0-7475-0513-6 This book describes the activities of the Surrey University student, Edward Singh, who broke into computers within banks, universities, multinational companies, and atomic weapons manufacturers, in pursuit of his hacking obsession. He violated the security of the US Government's nuclear defense agency, where he attempted to play a world war simulation program reminiscent of the film 'War Games'. The book describes the enquiries undertaken by the US Secret Service and Scotland Yard Serious Crime Squad. It explains how Singh escaped prosecution in the UK to the annoyance of the American authorities. The book was written prior to the passage of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and rehearses the argument for the updating of English law to deal with the hacking problem. Available from Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 2 Soho Square, London, W l V 5DE.
Swindle - How A Man Named John Grambling Jr Cheated Banks Out Of Millions, by Brian Rosner (Business One Irwin Publishers, 1990), 392pp., £19.99, ISBN 1-55623-291-8 This book describes the activities of John Grambling Jr who, between 1984 and 1986, successfully defrauded a dozen banks in an equal number of States in the US out of millions of dollars. The book recounts the commission of the crimes, the investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the process by which the culprits, were or were not, brought to justice. The book is written by the trial attorney who prosecuted the criminals. The author describes the story as "one of experienced bankers who did their due diligence and were swindled anyway. The moral? If the swindler is skilful, fraud can be done to anyone, however careful. The lesson of this work is more humble than my attempting to dictate principles of prevention. One of the book's purposes is to sensitize the reader to the possibilities of fraud". The outcome of the story was the conviction of the defendant, who received the lengthiest prison sentence ever imposed on a white collar criminal in the history of New York State. The author believes that the magnitude of the sentence imposed - 20 years - is a reflection of society's recently changed attitude towards white collar crime, and its recognition that money frauds do hurt victims and merit more heavier sentences than has hitherto been the case. The book is written in the style of a detective story, except that in this case it is true. Available from Charles Letts & Co Ltd, Diary House, Borough Road, London, SE1 1DW - Contact Louise Gillic, tel: 071-4078891.
Spectacular Computer Crimes, by Buck BloomBecker (Dow Jones-Irwin, 1990), 242pp., £18.95, ISBN 1-55623-256-X As the author says in his introduction: "This book is an attempt to bring focus to my 10years" work at the National Centre for Computer Crime Data, collecting information about computer crime- both the spectacular and the relatively ordinaoz. Since the Centre is a clearing house for such information, I have been able to draw on case studies, as well as conversations with criminals, victims and security
INFORMATION STOP PRESS U.S. SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY RULES WHITE PAGE DATABASES ARE NOT COPYRIGHTABLE Re" Feist Publicationsv. Rural Telephone Service Company No. 8 9 - 1 9 0 9 , 1991 WL 39298, 1991 U.S. Lexis 1856 On March 17th, 1991 the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous 9-0 decision ruled that a telephone directory's white pages listing of names, addresses, and telephone numbers is not protected by the U.5. Copyright Act 1976. The decision was based on three foundations. First, the Court said the listings were not original since they were not independently created. Rather they were facts. By themselves, facts are not copyrightable. They must be expressed in a form which is copyrightable. Copyright protection extends only to those components of the work that are original to the author not to the facts themselves. This fact/expression dichotomy severely limits the scope of a protection in fact-based works. Second, a telephone directory is only a compilation. According to the Court a compilation of facts is not
copyrightable per se, but is copyrightable only if its facts have been "selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work o f authorship." A telephone directory does not meet this additional requirement. Third, there is nothing original in a white page listing of names, addresses, and phone numbers. The fact that they are listed alphabetically is not relevant since their organization, "could not be more obvious and lacks the modicum o f creativity necessary to transform mere selection into copyrightable expression." L.J. Kutten Report Correspondent Editor's Note: We will report any further developments in the next issue of CLSR.
48
THE COMPUTER LAW AND SECURITY REPORT
[1990-91 ] 7 CLSR
BOOK REVIEWS EXPERT SYSTEMS
HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY
Expert systems for Business - Concepts and Applications, by Baur and Pigford, 1990 (Chapman & Hall), 395 pp., £15.95, ISBN 0-534-98218-2. The aim of this book is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of expert systems and how they are developed. To assist the user's achievement of this goal, a specific expert system development tool - VP-Expert - is included. The first part of the book examines the theory of expert systems and provides the user with a broad analysis of the concepts. These include discussion of what is meant by intelligence, both human and artificial, and how intelligent computing compares with conventional computing. There is also examination of what is meant by applied artificial intelligence and how expert systems fit into the picture. The advantages and limitations are also discussed, as it the role of AI in the business world. The second section explores expert systems in general and explains the purpose of using VP-Expert - a tool to develop expert systems. This section also helps the reader through the initial tasks of making back-up discs, formatting discs and making data discs. The book is intended for a variety of users, particularly those with some background experience of IBM or IBM compatible computers. No prior knowledge or experience with expert systems, or development tools, is required, although those that do have some experience in the subject will find the book of greater value. Available from Chapman & Hall, 2-6 Boundary Road, London, SE1 8HN.
Electronics, Computers and Telephone Switching, by R J Chapuis and A E Joel, 1990 (North-Holland Studies in Telecommunication, 12), 428 pp., US $90.001 Df1.175.00, ISBN 0 ~.~. 38042-9. This book is the second volume of an analysis of the technological history of telephone switching. Volume One, published in 1982, covered the period from 1878 to 1978. This retraces 18 years and covers the period 1960 to 1985. The purpose of the book lies outside the usual framework of studies devoted to technology in a given branch of industry. Its main objective is to show how, in only two decades, the highly specialised telephone switching industry has been completely transformed, and how it revolutionised the manufacturing processes and products involved. These developments have gone largely unnoticed by the public, despite the fact that the changes have been so drastic that it has been compared to the metamorphosis of the insect from its caterpillar phase to that of the butterfly. The book contains some very interesting and original material and will provide the technological historian with a considerable degree of interesting data. Sections deal with the routes of electronic switching; the beginnings of the computer industry; semi-conductor research and micro-electronics developments; the early development of electronic switching, and the advent of the digital revolution. Later sections deal with the later generations of post-1980 digital systems; telephone signalling in the electronic era, and an economic analysis of the environment for switching in 1985 compared with 1960. Available from Elsevier Science Publishers, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands, or in US/Canada from Elsevier Science Publishing Co Inc, PO Box 882, Madison Square Station, New York, NY 10159, USA.
Benefits and Risksof Knowledge-Based Systems. Report of the Working Party Council for Science and Society, 1989 (Oxford University Press), 76 pp., £6.95, ISBN 0-19-854743-9. The Council for Science and Society is a registered charity and was created in 1973 with the object of 'promoting the study of, and research into, the social effect of science and technology, and of disseminating the results thereof to the public'. The Council's primary task is therefore to stimulate informed public discussion in the field of the 'social responsibility of the scientist" It does this by looking for developments in science and technology, where the social consequences lie just beyond the horizon and where no full-scale debate has yetbegun. The Council performs this task in a number of ways, including the organisation of conferences, seminars and colloquia. Major studies are conducted by ad hoc working parties composed of experts working in the relevant field. In this context, this report looks at the potential benefits and possible dangers of a new form of advanced information technology - knowledge-based systems. These are advice-giving computer programs which are becoming popular in a growing range of institutions in society - commercial, financial and manufacturing companies; medical, welfare, educational and legal services; policy making bodies, such as central and local government and the military. The first chapter analyses what knowledge-based systems are and how they produce their advice. Chapter Two surveys a varied range of specific applications in the areas of finance, the law, education, the military and health. Chapter Three outlines the views of supporters and critics of these systems and attempts to identify those applications which might be suitable to the application of knowledge-based techniques, as opposed to those which might not. The final chapter examines a number of suggestions about how these systems can be produced responsibly and used appropriately. There is also a list of the conclusions and recommendations agreed by the working party. The main proposal is that education about knowledge-based systems should become an integral part of literacy teaching in schools. There is also an urgent need for more undergraduate and graduate interdisciplinary study programs in cognitive sciences and in knowledge-based systems. The working party also calls on the Government to support the technology in the health education and health care fields. Available from Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP.
IT STANDARDIZATION An analysis of the information technology standardization process, edited by J L Berg and H Schumny, 1990 (North Holland), 492 pp., US $92.751Df1.190.00, ISBN 0-J.A.A.-87390-2. This book contains the key papers from the First International Symposium on Information Technology Standardization, which took place at Braunschweig in The Federal Republic of Germany from the 4th to 7th July, 1989. The objective of the conference was to bring together leaders from technical, economic, political and standards making fields, to discuss the subject in an unlimited, independent and interdisciplinary fashion. Among the topics discussed during the conference, and featured in the book, are how the IT standardization process can be made more efficient; which current IT standards are the most appropriate, and how can the successful features of such standards be recreated elsewhere; what improvements to the quality of such standards are needed; which organisation should be involved; what permanent changes in the IT standardization scene are necessary; at what point in the evolution of a technology is it appropriate to produce standards; and is strategic planning feasible in the current standardization approach? Available from Elsevier Science Publishers, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands, or in the USA/Canada from ElsevierSciencePublishing Co Inc, PO Box 882 Madison Square Station, New York, NY 10159, USA. Computer Software ProtectionlUabilitylLawlForms, by L J Kutten, ReleaseFive,July l~J0 (Clark Boardman), US $85.00, ISBN 0-87632-547-9. This current release of Computer Software by L J Kutten and provides some significant additions to the existing text. It also expands the treatise into a second volume. The work provides current judicial and statutory developments that have occurred since the fourth release. Significant additions include a new appendix detailing how to choose and use a computer consultant; a new appendix supplying sample jury instructions in a software
47
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:
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..............
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. . .. . . .
liability case; a new section on the types of computer viruses, with discussion of who to sue, what theory of liability to use, and what the legislative response to viruses has been; added discussion of copyright protection of automated databases as compilations; expanded analysis of recent interpretation of the patentability of software, including the 1989 PTO guidelines of patentable subject matter; further discussion on the tax aspects of computer software, dealing with the taxation of data procession and firmware, and the State software taxation exemption, with chart. Available from Clark Boardman Co Ltd, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014, USA.
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professionals. I have also drawn on more than a few frustrations experienced in taking this organisation from its birth to its current stage of adolescent struggle for identity." The goal of the book is to raise awareness of the risks and potential of computer crime. The author hopes that people will wake up to the realities and start acting to fight the danger. The author's philosophy is that computer and communications technology is essential to cultural survival - "They are increasingly the basis of new business systems, new scientific research strategies, new forms of flterary expression, and new ways of thought". The book is packed with interesting accounts of real cases, including the recent episode in which Colonel Oliver North failed to wipe out back-up notes of his activities concerning the IranContra affair. Available from Charles Letts& Co Ltd (see above).
COMPUTER CRIME Beating the System - Hackers, Phreakers and Electronic Spies, by Owen Bowcott and Sally Hamilton (Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 1990), 198pp., £7.99, ISBN 0-7475-0513-6 This book describes the activities of the Surrey University student, Edward Singh, who broke into computers within banks, universities, multinational companies, and atomic weapons manufacturers, in pursuit of his hacking obsession. He violated the security of the US Government's nuclear defense agency, where he attempted to play a world war simulation program reminiscent of the film 'War Games'. The book describes the enquiries undertaken by the US Secret Service and Scotland Yard Serious Crime Squad. It explains how Singh escaped prosecution in the UK to the annoyance of the American authorities. The book was written prior to the passage of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and rehearses the argument for the updating of English law to deal with the hacking problem. Available from Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd, 2 Soho Square, London, W l V 5DE.
Swindle - How A Man Named John Grambling Jr Cheated Banks Out Of Millions, by Brian Rosner (Business One Irwin Publishers, 1990), 392pp., £19.99, ISBN 1-55623-291-8 This book describes the activities of John Grambling Jr who, between 1984 and 1986, successfully defrauded a dozen banks in an equal number of States in the US out of millions of dollars. The book recounts the commission of the crimes, the investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the process by which the culprits, were or were not, brought to justice. The book is written by the trial attorney who prosecuted the criminals. The author describes the story as "one of experienced bankers who did their due diligence and were swindled anyway. The moral? If the swindler is skilful, fraud can be done to anyone, however careful. The lesson of this work is more humble than my attempting to dictate principles of prevention. One of the book's purposes is to sensitize the reader to the possibilities of fraud". The outcome of the story was the conviction of the defendant, who received the lengthiest prison sentence ever imposed on a white collar criminal in the history of New York State. The author believes that the magnitude of the sentence imposed - 20 years - is a reflection of society's recently changed attitude towards white collar crime, and its recognition that money frauds do hurt victims and merit more heavier sentences than has hitherto been the case. The book is written in the style of a detective story, except that in this case it is true. Available from Charles Letts & Co Ltd, Diary House, Borough Road, London, SE1 1DW - Contact Louise Gillic, tel: 071-4078891.
Spectacular Computer Crimes, by Buck BloomBecker (Dow Jones-Irwin, 1990), 242pp., £18.95, ISBN 1-55623-256-X As the author says in his introduction: "This book is an attempt to bring focus to my 10years" work at the National Centre for Computer Crime Data, collecting information about computer crime- both the spectacular and the relatively ordinaoz. Since the Centre is a clearing house for such information, I have been able to draw on case studies, as well as conversations with criminals, victims and security
INFORMATION STOP PRESS U.S. SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUSLY RULES WHITE PAGE DATABASES ARE NOT COPYRIGHTABLE Re" Feist Publicationsv. Rural Telephone Service Company No. 8 9 - 1 9 0 9 , 1991 WL 39298, 1991 U.S. Lexis 1856 On March 17th, 1991 the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous 9-0 decision ruled that a telephone directory's white pages listing of names, addresses, and telephone numbers is not protected by the U.5. Copyright Act 1976. The decision was based on three foundations. First, the Court said the listings were not original since they were not independently created. Rather they were facts. By themselves, facts are not copyrightable. They must be expressed in a form which is copyrightable. Copyright protection extends only to those components of the work that are original to the author not to the facts themselves. This fact/expression dichotomy severely limits the scope of a protection in fact-based works. Second, a telephone directory is only a compilation. According to the Court a compilation of facts is not
copyrightable per se, but is copyrightable only if its facts have been "selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work o f authorship." A telephone directory does not meet this additional requirement. Third, there is nothing original in a white page listing of names, addresses, and phone numbers. The fact that they are listed alphabetically is not relevant since their organization, "could not be more obvious and lacks the modicum o f creativity necessary to transform mere selection into copyrightable expression." L.J. Kutten Report Correspondent Editor's Note: We will report any further developments in the next issue of CLSR.
48