Cyberspace is here

"Well of course it is," you say. What I mean is that cyberspace as we understand it is starting to get closer to what William Gibson had in mind when he invented the word. True, we can't yet "jack in" to cyberspace using electrodes attached to our brains (though research on controlling computers through brainwaves is producing results) but an important feature of Gibson's novel, Black ICE, or lethal computer security measures, may not be too far in the future. Senator Orrin Hatch is arguing that the US government allow and support efforts by music companies to invade and damage the computers of people who download illegal music files.

Legal and moral questions aside, this is not very practical at the moment. The latest Microsoft licences make users agree to allow Microsoft to alter any data on their computers (though not many people who downloaded the XP Service Pack know that). For Windows 98, this is unnecessary, since any teenager with a grudge can get into their PCs and mess up the data. None of this, however, constitutes damage to the computer itself.

Newer developments in binding software to hardware, such as Microsoft's Palladium initiative, show the way forward. At the moment, Palladium is simply a software layer to allow your computer hardware to refuse to run any software that was not approved, such as viruses, pirated music files, or any program which is deemed to be a security threat. You wouldn't want any software running on your computer that wasn't approved by Bill Gates, now, would you? But since Palladium controls the hardware, it could in the future be enhanced, so that when unapproved files are found, the "Fritz chip" doesn't just delete or refuse to run the files, it goes bang, preventing the computer from running at all. It could even be wired so as to damage other components.

But why stop at damaging hardware? After all, it is not the fault of the computer if some irresponsible user fills it with pirated music or non-Windows software. Computers already affect us physically; I frequently get eye-strain and muscle cramps from using them too much. Why not extend the human-computer interface to include the ability to cause, say, epileptic fits? I'm sure this would, to use one of Microsoft's favourite phrases, "enhance the Windows experience," as well as bringing us closer to Gibson's vision.

SCO sues Sams, O'Reilly

Solri News Agency

"Following the ground-breaking innovations SCO have introduced in IP [intellectual property] law in our case against IBM," says an SCO spokesperson, "we have decided to protect our rights to the 'Hello World' program, and have consequently filed suit against Sams and O'Reilly.

Sams are the publisher of many well-known computer books catering to the needs of time-pressed IT professionals, such as the popular Learn C++ in 10 Seconds, while O'Reilly have published such computing classics as The Aesthetics of Pascal and The Bumper Book of Network Protocols. SCO's suit is based on the fact that many of these books contain the code to the famous "Hello World" program, which it claims to own the licencing rights to.

SCO would not reveal details of the code of the original program, but "derivative" versions abound. For legal reasons we have been advised not reprint examples, but essentially these programs have one thing in common; when executed, they print the message "Hello World". More sophisticated versions provide a button which closes the program, while others have modified the original code such that, for example, the message is printed several times, using a so-called "loop". This complicates the legal situation, since Bell Labs claim to have a patent on the FOR and WHILE loops. While they have no plans to take legal action at present, the possibility of such a case would be raised if versions of "Hello World" licenced by SCO turn out to contain such patented code.

SCO claims to have bought exclusive rights resell licences to the original "Hello World" code, saying "We do not object to people using or even modifying this code, so long as they have purchased a licence to do so, but indiscriminate publishing of either the original code or thinly disguised versions of it is a clear violation of our intellectual property rights."

SCO has also mailed over a thousand schools and universities, warning them that the presence of "Hello World" code on their computers may be illegal.

And still in a Gibson vein

I just downloaded a cute program called TDFSB, wich I assume stands for "Three Dimensional File System Browser". It enables you to fly around a 3D model of your computer's file system in a way which is exactly how I visualised "cyberspace" when I first read Gibson's Neuromancer:



I'd assumed this would be a nice toy but have no practical use, then I noticed that humungous obelisk entitled "neohomes.tar.gz". This explained why I had so little space left on my harddrive - I'd made a massive backup file and forgotten to move it off the computer.

And now, I evilly imprison my students in cyberspace ....