Word: viruses
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...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 control...
Morris asked Sudduth to alert users about the virus and to instruct them how to contain it. Morris could not send the message out himself because his owncomputer at Cornell University, where he is agraduate student, had been one of the firstdisabled by the virus, Sudduth said...
Sudduth said he sent the message out only toHarvard, although the computers were affectedacross the country. In an advisory sent to Harvardusers by electronic mail, he detailed thetechnical antidote that could be used to eliminatethe virus, adding at the end, "Hope this helps,but more, I hope it is a hoax." Sudduth, a Harvardsystems analyst, said he did not send the messageout more widely because he was not aware of theproblem's magnitude...
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 tar and somefeathers...
Unfortunately, it seems that the political response, when there is one, has been more reactionary than prescriptive. In California there is a referendum on the November 8 ballot that would end confidentiality policies for those who test positive for the AIDS virus. If it passes, doctors would be obligated to release names of those infected to state health authorities, who would then force these patients to reveal the names of all their sexual partners...