European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 3, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Personal computer Pioneer Steven jobs co founder of Apple computer co., introduces his next computer workstation to the Boston computer society. By Barry Flynn United press International w Hen Steven jobs the legendary computer entrepreneur brought his eagerly awaited next computer to the East coast recently he demonstrated it first forthe Boston computer society. Jobs Choice was not the gesture of a benevolent Friend. Nor was he smiling on a Small group of favored computer nerds. Far from it. Jobs presentation at a packed symphony Hall was As close to a hat in hand performance As is possible for the one time Prodigy. The reason the Boston computer society is the biggest and probably the most influential computer users group in the world. A Good review from its members can Speed general acceptance of a new product and quickly translate into big sales. A bad reception can be death. Things were not always so remembered Jonathan Rotenberg who founded the Csc As a 13-year-old prep school freshman. Only two people came to the first meeting one by Accident recalled Rotenberg. The dues were set at $5 a year but i could t get anyone to  he kept expenses to $5 a month and had his father drive him to Boston area computer stores with leaflets to announce upcoming meetings. Rotenberg now 25 and the society s salaried president got interested in computers after he tried to talk his school into buying one and found there was no impartial information available. At first there was pressure to be a closed group of fairly expert enthusiasts but he resisted. I Felt our role was to de mystify this thing for would be users Rotenberg said. His View prevailed. The bus quickly evolved into a place for novices to learn. In the fall of 1978, when the society was less than two years old it reached its first major turning Point by sponsoring a computer show. The enthusiastic response from both vendors who eagerly picked up the Tab for the Hall the bus rented and the Public surprised everyone. We had 48 exhibitors and 1,000 people came Rotenberg said. In that single saturday membership More than tripled from 70 to 225 and the bus could not turn Back from its course As a consumer group. Soon Rotenberg was in demand As a consultant for companies trying to reach the growing computer consumer Market. While still a student he said he helped put together a computer expo. When he got the Check for his efforts he was stunned at the amount $25,000. I just left the Check on my desk and looked at it for a couple of weeks before i cashed  although he has had Many opportunities to work for computer makers Rotenberg said he is happier at the bus. The burgeoning bus soon created subgroups based on the Type of computers people were interested in or the uses they had for them. Today there Are 50 such subgroups with As few As 75 members to As Many As 16,000 in the Case of the ism pc users group. The groups average 150 meetings a month. As the society s members filed out of jobs symphony Hall performance the bus was signing up members for the world s first next users group even though the computers Are not yet available for Purchase. Rotenberg sees that As typical. When we started the computer society nobody had a  now with More than 30,000 members around the Globe including 70 percent within 100 Miles of Boston the bus includes everyone from beginning users to classic techno freaks to executives of major computer companies. Although it excludes no one the society has a distinctly mainstream feel. The Guy with the plaid shirt and the slab of pizza in one hand and the Coke in the other is gone said Bill Machrone editor of pc Magazine. Machrone who Speaks before the group once a year estimates a third of bus membership have real live computer or mis management information systems Job titles at some of the High tech companies that ring Boston. That Means they spend Money sometimes very big Money. Unquestionably the Industry pays attention. Ellen Leanse manager of Apple computer inc s user group connection said the bus is the most listened to most influential of the 1,200 groups that have formed around the country. Rotenberg put it this Way i Don t think you could name someone who s had a significant role in the personal computer Industry who has t spoken at the  that list includes such computer luminaries As Bill Gates chairman of Microsoft corp., and Mitch Kapor the founder and former chairman of Lotus development corp. Kapor has also been a bus Board member. William Lowe until recently head of ism s personal computers division also is a member. Perhaps the society s proudest moment came at an earlier jobs appearance when he and his colleague Steve Wozniak introduced Apple s macintosh computer to the world at a society meeting in 1984. Despite its Success the bus is still very much a grassroots organization with almost 600 volunteers putting in an average of 30 hours a week. The society has 13 full time staff members and a budget of about $2.5 million mainly culled from annual dues of $35 and the fees it charges for handling a huge Supply of Public Domain software. How secure is electronic data by Robert Gillette los Angeles times n 1845, Only a year after Samuel . Morse hooked up the first Telegraph and tapped out his triumphant message what hath god wrought another More obscure figure clearly saw what Morse had wrought. Not even rep. Francis . Smith of Maine one of Morse s business partners could have foreseen that a Young Cornell University graduate student might someday spread a digital virus that would wreak havoc on a nationwide network of research computers linked by thousands of Miles of coaxial Cable fiber optic Telephone lines and microwave relay circuits. But even in 1845, he seemed to understand the promethean dilemma posed by every new technology since fire with benefits come risks. In the Case of the Telegraph employees along the transmission route and wire tappers could steal messages. Smith carved his modest Niche in history by publishing the first code for encrypting Telegraph messages a pioneering antidote to the drawbacks of turning information into lightning fast pulses of electricity. Now 143 years later a Small but growing computer Security Industry is treading in the footsteps of Smith. It is grappling altogether too slowly Many experts believe with enormously Complex variants of the same threats of intrusion and theft that animated Early sceptics of the Telegraph. In a world increasingly dependent on the secure flow of electronic data More than $2 trillion a Day now move around the world through , computerized Interbank Transfer systems computer Security specialists Are turning to exotic Means of protecting commercial information that originally were conceived for intelligence agencies and strategic defense. Not surprisingly protecting computers and telecommunications against electronic intrusion is proving to be mainly a Job for computers. Emerging technologies include computerized cipher systems for Banks and private Industry and coded digital signatures to replace the familiar executive scrawl at the Bottom of letters and Interoffice memos. Some Banks and Federal agencies now use smart cards with imbedded microchips to identify authorized users. A few companies Are already marketing ingenious substitutes for the sleepy Security guard who May or May not Check to see whether the Holder of a Security pass is also its owner. Among these devices Are computer scanners that confirm the identity of computer users by examining their fingerprints or hand shape. Some literally look an employee in the Eye to verify his or her identity As the employee Peers into an eyepiece a weak infrared beam scans. Blood vessels on the Retina while a computer compares the pattern to one stored in its memory. Retinal patterns Are unique even among identical twins and unlike fingerprints never clog with dirt and grease. High on the list of Security experts current worries Are computer viruses like the one injected in november into the Pentagon s arpanet system linking 300 University research centers corporations and government agencies. The prank galvanized the fears of millions who wonder if their computer checking accounts medical and credit files to say nothing of government secrets and nuclear weapons Are any More secure. The stars and stripes Page 17