Vol 6. No 12. Page 12.

Three officers of the Toronto-based company Dial Data Services are

now appealing against charges of violating Canadian criminal law for allegedly altering information held on computer files at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin data processing department of A 0 Smith Data Systems. The alleged offences are said (by the prosecution) to have taken place in 1982 and to have involved amendments to payroll data and other financial records held at Smith's, by means of remote terminals connected up by telephone lines. As the alteration of this data did not actually 'damage' the computer

tape, and as none of the data was actually destroyed, the three accused argue that the sections of the Criminal Code under which they are charged does not apply. This argument was dismissed by the Ontario Supreme Court last June but is now being considered by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Legal specialists await the outcome with considerable interest as a test of the current limits of jurisdiction of Canadian federal law.

COMPUTER ERRORS: Jack Taylor, a 50 year-old cashier with the South Yorkshire County THE BAD NEWS AND Council, was surprised to find that his bank account was overdrawn THE GOOD NEWS by more than E2 million. The cause? A cheque for E23.50 to pay

his telephone bill had been misread by the computer as E2 350 000. Those of us with teenage kids would probably assume the bill was correct.

David Schalls, a prisoner in Zephyrhills correctional Institute, Florida, thought that his luck was in when the prison's computer told the Governor it was time for his release. Prison staff drove him to the bus station and then sent him on his way. Then the

error was spotted: he had been released 12 months too early.

The following day, Mr Schwalls was rearrested and sent back to prison.

\I Oxiord OX2 7I)H, England.

HSEVIER Elsevier International Bulletins.

INTtiXtNATIONAl. BlJIM!,TINS

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, Pl’ew York, NY 10017, LISA.

Elsevier International Bulletins, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Special regulations for readers in the U. S. A. This publication has been registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. Consent is given for copying of articles for personal or internal use, or for the personal use of specific clients. The consent is given on the condition that the copier pays through the Center the per-copy fee stated in the code on each page for copying beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law. The appropriate fee should be forwarded with a copy of each page reproduced to the Copyright Clearance Center Inc., 21 Congress Street, Salem MA 01970, U.S.A. This consent does not extend to other kinds of copying, such as for general distribution, resale, advertising and promotion purposes, or for creating new collective works. Special written permission must be obtained from the publisher for such copying.