Beware of Information Highway Robbery : Vigilance is the answer to the risks posed by new technology

The Times Valley Edition has just obtained some pretty hot documents.

One is particularly chilling in its intricate assessment of the vulnerabilities of automated bank teller machines and the security measures designed to protect them.

Another is even more thorough in its electronic dissection of an international telephone company’s calling cards.

A third tells about procedures one could use to illegally intercept cellular telephone calls.

And a fourth details information that could be used to subvert passwords and gain access to a well-known company’s computer equipment, in part by using a computer on-line service. (It’s not TimesLink.)

But if you’re thinking that this was a particularly good week for investigative journalism here, you would be wrong. You would be wrong, too, if you think the companies have shared this information with us because they have already corrected matters.

Alas, we happened upon all of these Internet-style, computer age Maalox moments in one magazine. We found it by accident at a San Fernando Valley newsstand.

The magazine is probably within its First Amendment rights in publishing these articles. Still, we have some problems with all of this, so we’re not going to boost their circulation by revealing the publication’s name.

We will note, however, that one of the people listed among its “writers” is a North Hills native who was once active with a small gang of Valley-based computer hackers. He has been arrested and charged with several counts of cellular phone fraud.

We can also say that any public official or business security official who is interested in finding out more of what we’re talking about can call us at (818) 772-3178, and we would be happy to share it with you.

The point is this is another wake-up call about the practically innumerable vulnerabilities of the electronic and information age. These weaknesses run the gamut from banking machines to the computer-based information superhighway known as the Internet. But the weak links in the system can also help point out how to deal with such problems and how to make this new world more secure.

Take the availability of child pornography on the Internet. We’ve already noted, earlier this week, a badly written (and probably unconstitutional) congressional law that would violate the rights of many. The bill is Sen. James J. Exon’s (D-Neb.) proposed Communications Decency Act of 1995. It would prohibit the distribution of pornography via computer. Trouble is, it’s a potentially unconstitutional measure that also would saddle the Federal Communications Commission with the delicate task of curbing computer smut while preserving privacy and speech rights.

This bill really isn’t necessary. It’s already a crime to possess child pornography. Besides, all it took to arrest a Sun Valley man accused of obtaining child smut through his computer were laws already on the books. You can credit the good legwork of Los Angeles Police Department detectives in enforcing those laws.

New technology will always open startling new avenues of abuse. We should take note of the holes and close them, and we probably won’t need a host of new laws to do it.