Word: computerizes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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In the wee hours of Thursday morning, Morris telephoned Andrew H. Sudduth '83-'85 and Paul Graham, a computer science graduate student, at Harvard's Aiken Computation Lab when he realized that a simple but critical error in his program had allowed a computer "virus" to spread rapidly out of...
Workers at Aiken said they first discovered theproblem late Wednesday but that they did not knowuntil news reports this weekend that Morris hadmasterminded the virus. "People were very angry,"said Assistant Professor of Computer Science MarkFriedell. "Before we knew it was Robert, we wouldhave gotten out a big pot of...
Harvard was first formally notified of thevirus on Thursday, when they received a warningfrom the National Science Foundation, which has asimilar computer system, said Harvard News OfficeDirector Peter Costa. Programmers have beenworking "file by file" to purge the virus from thesystem, which is now "almost 100 percentdisinfected," he said.
Morris has retained a lawyer and is meetingwith federal prosecutors. The investigators arelooking at whether Morris, who has not yet beencharged with any crime, violated laws thatprohibit unauthorized entry into computer systems.
Graham, characterizing the experiment as beingborn out of "scientific curiosity" rather than"malicious curiosity," said that an error in theprogram caused the virus to mulitiply and spreadat a rapid rate from computer to computer. Heexplained that Morris had intended only for thevirus to have one copy in each computer withoutreplicating...