Message 1150 DATE/TIME: 03/20/89 20:18 From : GAZ HOWLAND To : ALL Subject: I need a mars bar, to help me, help me, Folder : E, "Encyclopedia Hacktanica" Did you see the article in datalink about the tory MP for Devon South The woman wants to jail hackers. She says the following: "it will exclude the amateur hackers who can cause damage through sheer stupidity" "I dont think it is right for a hacker to determine society's right to privacy" "lives are being put at risk by 'incompetent' hackers" (whats an incompetent hacker?) She says (by the way, her name is Emma Nicholson), she used to be a programmer at ICL: "In those days I was doing things like working on the bootstrap routines to shave off nano-seconds" SOME PROGRAMMER! Why shave nano-seconds off a routine used only when the machine is brought up? "In those days there was no hacking because it was all machine code" I thinks she means there were no modems, and what the hell has machine code(assembler to programmers), got to do with stopping hacking? "As we advance we lose things like security along the way" Oh sure! Because programs are no longer written in "machine code" they are now error prone and are a security risk! And those old systems used to have a much stricter logon procedure didnt they! She hasn't got a clue whats she's talking about. Jim Smith wrote the article, and he's usually pretty good. Perhaps thats why he left all those silly quotes it. (in, not it) Gaz.