Date   : Mon, 25 Jun 1984 03:34:00-EDT
From   : Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE@Mit-Mc.ARPA>
Subject: BBS vs. TELCO (LONG message)

       In a telephone interview Friday, Douglas Cambern,
Executive Director of Pacific Bell, told me, eventually, that
perhaps Bell had been a bit more severe than was wise; this
after I pointed out that Telco had probably managed to make
enemies out of a lot of rather intelligent people who did NOT
assert any right to publicise telephone codes, etc.
       Cambern wiggled a lot, obviously unhappy at having to
defend the phone company employees action in insisting that
Tcimpidas' equipment be siezed; he admitted that Tcimpidas was
"terribly cooperative".  When I pointed out that Telco actions
cost quite a lot of time and money for Tcimpidas, Cambern took
the position that both Tcimpidas and Telco were "joint victims"
of the people who had posted the codes.  He wasn't too
comfortable with th fact that Telco lost less ("hundreds of
dollars") thant T cimpidas.
       I also pointed out that the recent actions and publicity
would probably generate some desire to harass the Phone co.
among people who would not otherwise thnk of doing that.  His
reply is interesting: "Aperson who is psychologically disposed
to take illegal actions has a character defect that will
eventually cause him to be caught."  He didn't reply when I
said, "O, like Patrick Henry?"
       In any event Cambern now wishes he had attended the
meeting of BBS operators in LA, and would like to attend a
meeting of BBS people with a view to seeing if application of
technological smarts and ingenuity can result in BBS and Telco
cooperating on a fix to the difficulty.  I think he meant it,
although given a telephone interview and the smug attitude he
started with it's hard to be sure.
       Anyone interested in putting together such a meeting
with a high Pacific Bell official (he promises to bring
technical types from Security)?  No guarantees that this isn't
some kind of ploy, but it might be real.
       It was interesting as his attitude changed: in beginning
he couldn't spell or pronouce my name althugh it had been both
spelled and pronounced for him, and he asked if that was
"B-I-T-E Magazine"; after a bit when he learned I had been the
Director of Research for the City of LA, (and that BYTE is not
so small as he thought, and McGraw-Hill not so insignificant as
he hoped) there was a decided change in attitude.
       I don't figure it's my place to organize such a meeting;
I'd loke to come to it, and I'll be glad to convey any
invitation to Cambern if something interesting looks like it
might develop.
       I've been unable to log in on Tcimpidas' BB (line busy
all the time) so anyone who could relay this to him might be
doing him a service.
       J E P