Epilogue

The Year After

The newspaper headlines during the first year of the attack revealed as much about the effects of the attacks on American society, its politics and economy as could any biased editorial.

They ironically and to the dismay of many of those in the govern- ment, echoed the pulse of the country, regardless of the politi- cal leaning of the Op-Ed pages.

Foster Indicted By Federal Grand Jury Faces 1800 Years If Convicted Washington Post

Economy Loses $300 Billion in First 6 Months $1 Trillion Loss Possible Tampa Tribune

Senator Urges Sanctions Against j.a.panese Washington Post

NSA Admits Its Own Computers Sick New York City Times

NASA Launch Stopped By Faulty Computers Orlando Sentinal

McMillan Indicted - Skips Country Employee"s Testimony Crucial New York Post

Credit Card Usage Down 84% Retailers In Slump Chicago Sun-Times

OSO Denied Access to Government Contracts Investigation Expected to Take Years Los Angeles Times

Most Companies Go Unprotected Do Nothing In Spite of Warnings USA Today

Commercial Tempest Program Kicks Off Safe Computers Begin Shipping Houston Mirror

Secret Service Stops Freedom BBS Software Company Built Viruses Tampa Tribune

New York Welfare Recipients Suffer No Payments For 3 Months: 3rd Night of Riots Village Voice

Allied Corporation Loses 10,000 Computers Viruses Smell of h.o.m.osoto Dallas Herald

ACLU Sues Washington Cla.s.s Action Privacy Suit First of a Kind Time Magazine

3rd. Quarter Leading Indicators Dismal Deep Recession Predicted If 4th. Qtr. Is Worse Wall Street Journal

Supreme Court Rules on Privacy 4th Amendment Protects E-Mail San Diego Union

Waves of VCR Failures Plague Manufacturers OSO Integrated Circuits Blamed San Jose Register

Mail Order Ouch!

Thousands of Dead Computers Kill Sales Kansas City Address

Chicago Traffic SNAFU New York Tie Up Remembered Chicago Sun Times

h.o.m.osoto Worked For Extraterrestrials Full Scale Alien Invasion Imminent National Enquirer

Power to the People by Scott Mason

The last few months have taught me, and this country, a great deal about the technology that has been allowed to control our lives. Computers, mainframes, mini computers, or millions of personal computers - they do in fact control and monitor our every activity, for better or for worse. A marriage of conven- ience?

Now, though, it appears to be for worse.

I am reminded of the readings of Edgar Cayce and the stories that surround the myth of Atlantis. According to Cayce and legend, Atlantis was an ancient ante-deluvian civilization that developed a fabulous technology which achieved air flight, levitation, advanced medical techniques and harnessed the sun"s energy.

However, the power to control the technology which had exclusive- ly been controlled by the high priests of Atlantis was lost and access to the technology was handed to the many peoples of that ancient culture. Through a series of unintentional yet reckless events, the Atlanteans lost control of the technology, and de- spite the efforts of the Priests, their cities and cultures were destroyed, eventually causing Atlantis to sink to the bottom of the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

Believing in the myth of Atlantis is not necessary to understand that the distribution of incredible computing power to "everyman"

augers a similar fate to our computerized society. We witnessed our traffic systems come a halt, bringing grid lock to small rural communities. Our banks had to reconstruct millions upon millions of transactions in the best possible attempt at recon- ciliation. The defensive readiness of our military was in ques- tion for some time before the Pentagon was satisfied that they had cleansed their computers.

The questions that arise are clearly ones to which there are no satisfying responses. Should "everyman" have unrestrained access to tools that can obviously be used for offensive and threatening purposes? Is there a level of responsibility a.s.sociated with computer usage? If so, how is it gauged? Should the businessman be subject to additional regulations to insure security and privacy? Are additional laws needed to protect the privacy of the average citizen? What guarantees do people have that infor- mation about them is only used for its authorized purpose?

Should "everyman" have the ability to pry into anyone"s personal life, stored on hundreds of computers?

One prominent group calling themselves FYI, Freeflow of Your Information, represented by the ACLU, represents one distinct viewpoint that we are likely to hear much of in the coming months. They maintain that no matter what, if any, restrictive mandates are placed on computer users, both are an invasion of privacy and violation of free speech have occurred. "You can"t regulate a pencil," has become their informal motto emblazoned across t-shirts on campuses everywhere.

While neither group has taken any overt legal action, FYI is formidably equipped to launch a prolonged court battle. Accord- ing to spokesmen for FYI, "the courts are going to have to decide whether electronic free speech is covered by the First Amendment of the Const.i.tution. If they find that it is not, there will be a popular uprising that will shake the foundation of this coun- try. A const.i.tutional crisis of the first order."

With threats of that sort, it is no wonder that most advocates of protective and security measures for computers are careful to avoid a direct confrontation with the FYI.

Foster Treason Trials Begin Jury Selection to Take 3 Months a.s.sociated Press

Unemployment Soars to 9.2% Worst Increase Since 1930 Wall Street Journal

SONY"s Threat Soon Own New York New York Post

h.o.m.osoto Hackers Prove Elusive FBI says, "I doubt we"ll catch many of them."

ISPN

Hard Disk Manufacturers Claim 1 Year Backlog Extraordinary Demand To Replace Dead Disks San Jose Citizen Register

Security Companies Reap Rewards Fixing Problems Can Be Profitable Entrepreneur

Auto Sales Down 34% Automotive Week

92% Distrust Computers Neilson Ratings Service

Compaq Introduces "Tamper Free" Computers Info World

IBM Announces "Trusted" Computers PC Week

Dow Jones Slides 1120 Points Wall Street Journal

Senator Nancy Investigates Gov"t Security Apathy Washington Times