CompuServe Magazine, 1990, month and issue unknown
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Excerpt
(Feb. 13)
The publisher of Canadian computer magazine MacMag contends the computer "virus" program his staff initiated recently was not only harmless but was "good for the Macintosh community."
Says 24-year-old Richard Brandow, "If other people do nasty things (with virus programs), it is their responsibility. You can't blame Einstein for Hiroshima."
Speaking by phone with reporter Don Clark of The San Francisco Chronicle, Brandow maintained his magazine's virus program, which spread through the Apple Macintosh community this week on this continent and apparently reached Europe, was intended to do nothing more than display a "peaceful" message on Mac screens on March 2, the first anniversary of the introduction of the Apple Mac II.
Of the so-called "virus" technology, Brandow said, "This message is very good for the Macintosh community."
The controversy centered around an Apple Hypercard "stack" file called "NEWAPP.STK" that was uploaded to various public domain databases around the country, including the data library of CompuServe's HyperForum (G APPHYPER).
When subscribers discovered that the file quietly altered their Mac's system files when it was executed, a warning was posted and forum administrator Neil Shapiro immediately removed the data library entry. Only after the forum's sysops had disassembled the suspect file could it be determined that NEWAPP.STK's only apparent function was to display a March 2 greeting from Brandow and the MacMag staff.
HyperForum members now have been informed that the file, while indeed a "virus," apparently is harmless. However, Shapiro contends MacMag staffers were "at least irresponsible ... to have perpetrated this type of problem and to have caused the confusion that they did."
Shapiro is quoted in The Chronicle as adding, "This is very similar to someone breaking into your home and writing a message of good will in red lipstick on your wall. It is a violation of the right of private property... Our computers are machines that belong to us and other people should remain out of them."
On the other side of the argument, Brandow told the paper, "The idea behind all this is to promote peaceful methods of communication between individuals using harmless ways."
Montreal-based MacMag, with a circulation of 40,000, is Canada's only Macintosh magazine. Brandow also heads a 1,250-member Mac user group, which he says is Canada's largest.
Brandow told Clark that programmers worked more than a year on the virus, adding that it was inspired by two groups, known as "The Neoists" and "The Church of!ähe SubGenius." (He said the latter was formed in Texas as a satire on fundamentalist religion and inspired a 1983 book.)
As noted here earlier, the MacMag virus also reached beyond CompuServe to other information services and private bulletin board systems. For instance, The Chronicle quotes General Manager Bill Louden of General Electric's GEnie as saying that about 200 users downloaded the file from that information service before it was discovered and removed early Monday. Meanwhile, Shapiro told Clark that only about 40 of CompuServe's subscribers retrieved the file before it was removed early Sunday.
The Chronicle says that Mac devotees in the Bay Area were "stunned" by news of the virus, but not all were upset. For example, Apple wizard Andy Hertzfeld, a co-designer of the original Mac, told the paper, "As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't have any malicious intent and is just some people having fun. I don't see why people are so uptight."
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Apple at company headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., said the company is searching for details of the virus and could not comment on it at present.
--Charles Bowen