Computers!

AN 3110: Culture, Society and Technology

 Definitions, early computers
 Before electronic computers, defined as a person
who carries out calculations or computations.
 First simple computation aids were created to
make math easier and more efficient.
 The abacus and slide rule were early tools used
to aid mathematical computations.
 Earliest abacus traced to 300 BC. Used by
Babylonians.
 Pascaline- 1642. Blaise Pascal invented this gear
driven one-function calculator to assist his
father-a tax collector.
 Joseph Marie Jacquard
o1800: Jacquard started to invent things- treadle loom, loom that weaves fishing
nets, and in 1801 he invented the Jacquard loom.
oThe jacquard loom used punched cards to mechanically control the raising and
lowering of threads required to weave a particular pattern the loom would create.

• In 1806 Joseph Jacquard’s loom was

deemed public property
and he was awarded with a pension
and royalty on each machine.

• This loom created fear amongst silk

weavers because they were afraid they
would lose their jobs to this.

• By 1812 there were 1000 Jacquard

Looms
 Charles Babbage
Originated the concept of a programmable
computer. He is known as the “father of
computers.”
The Difference Engine:
o This was made to compute values of polynomial functions. It also was
supposed to calculate values automatically.
o Babbage’s computers had data and program memory separate. For it to
operate it had to be instruction based. The control unit could only make
conditional jumps. It’s I/O unit was also separate.
.
• In the early 1820’s he began to make the prototype. He never finished it even
though he had plenty of funding to finish it. If it were complete it would have
been made of 25000 parts, weighed 15 tons and 8ft tall.
• Invented the first type of mechanical computer.
• He built some steam-powered machines which suggested that calculations could
be mechanized
 Charles Babbage’s Engines
Analytical Engine:
In 1837, Babbage invented the idea
of using punch cards in a general
purpose computer which was called
the Analytical engine.

o The engine was programmed using

punched cards. He realized he could
run programs on the card so one
person just had to create the program,
put it in and let it run.

o This engine would have been able to

use Jacquards punched cards to control
the mechanical calculator .
 Ada Lovelace
Ada Lovelace is regarded as
the first computer programmer.

She was the only

o In 1837 Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithm for Babbage’s person, of that
computer even though, at the time, it was never built. time period, that
saw just beyond
o Around 1842, Charles Babbage asked Ada Lovelace to translate a the calculating
part of
memoir (to English) from a lecture about the analytical engine, computers
that was originally written by Luigi Menabrea.
o Her addition to the translation of Menabrea’s memoir, was an
entire section of her own notes- specifically a method that would
calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers by using the engine.
o The notes became republished around 100 years later. This is
when it became recognized that engine was an early computer
and her notes were a description of computer software.
 Herman Hollerith
In 1889 Herman Hollerith, a statistician,
developed a machine he called a tabulator.
o The tabulator was based on punched cards that could quickly
calculate stats from large quantities of data. It was called a
Hollerith desk.
o Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine Co. became IBM
o The tabulator was created for the US government, so they could
do the census in one year.

The desk included

an automatic card
feed machine, card
reader, a gear-
driven mechanism
to make the count,
and a display panel
showing results of
the count. Punch
cards became
standard for storing Women preparing punch cards
any kind of data For US census
 George Stibitz
o Is known as one of the fathers of
the first digital computer.
o In 1937 he created a relay-based
calculator called the Model-K.
Stibitz was the first The model-k used binary addition.
person to use a
computing machine over
a phone line while
demonstrating the
complex number
calculator.

George Stibitz also developed a

Relay Interpolator, which
prepared tapes for many types of
Tape Dynamic Testers. (This aided in
the development of gun control equipment.)
 Complex number calculator

 Complex number calculator 1940 by George

Stibitz.
 First demonstrated at AT&T's Bell Telephone
Laboratories.
 World’s first electrical digital computer.
 Performed calculations using complex numbers.
x2 = −1
 Developed by the National Bureau of Standards.
 First to use all diode logic, more reliable than
vacuum tubes. First stored program computer.
 Magnetic tape stored programming information,
coded subroutines, numerical data, and output.
 WWII Influences
 WWII ships had massive guns
firing huge shells up to 25
miles.
 Physicists (human computers)
would write equations
determining its trajectory.
 Results written as ‘ballistic
firing tables.’ Tables to be
computed by humans. (mostly
female)
 Not enough human computers.
Could not keep up with demand
and need for new firing tables.
 Automation was required.
WWII
Influences
 Harvard and IBM partner up to
create Harvard Mark I in 1944.
 First programmable, digital
computer to be built in US.
 Not entirely electric, had many
switches, relays, clutches and
rotating shafts.
 Weighed five tons, 500 miles of
wire, eight feet tall, 51 feet
long, 50 foot rotating shaft
running its length, powered by
5 hp motor.
 Ran nonstop for 15 years.
 Paper tape reader. >
WWII Influences
 “Collossus”- 1944 by British
engineer Tommy Flowers. Used to
read encrypted German messages.
Cut time from weeks to hours. First
electric, digital, programmable
computer. 1,500 vacuum tubes, series
of pulleys and rolls of punched paper
tape containing possible code Collossus: women “computers”
solutions. Alan Turing’s program
language made decoding possible.
 ENIAC-1946 by John Mauchly and
Presper Eckert, University of
Pennsylvania. Designed to calculate
artillery firing tables, first used on
hydrogen bomb research. Started at
University of Pennsylvania under
code name “project PX”
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
 SEAC
o SEAC-1950. Standards
Eastern Automatic
Computer designed by the
National Bureau of
Standards (1950).
o First generation electronic
computer
o Led by Russell Kirsch is
was the first fully
functional stored-program
electronic computer in the
US.
o Applications would
include digital imaging,
meteorology, linear
programming, optics,
navigation and wave
function of certain
elements.
 Admiral Grace Hopper
o Developed the first
programming language
compiler in 1952.
o Her ideas led to the
development of COBOL
(one of the first modern Got a doctoral degree in
programming mathematics from Yale.
languages).
o In 1945: Found a moth
inside a computer and
took it out, coining the
One of the first
term “debugging” as programmers of
fixing a computer. the Harvard
o In 1954 she was named Mark I in 1944
the first director of
automatic programming.

Harvard Mark 1
 Women in Computers
“Computers" were the people operating computers, initially women
because they were hired as telephone operators and plugs similar to
telephone plugs were used for programming early computers,
including the Collossus in the UK, and ENIAC. Women computer
operators are only shown in photos, not recorded in accounts. Women
spent hours setting up each problem on ENIAC when it was claimed
the problem was solved in 15 seconds (set up time wasn't counted).
 Women in Computers
o In the late 19th century women were
considered better at math than men
because math was considered repetitive
and boring like housework

o Women were considered better at tedious

work requiring patience, precision and
dexterity of hands
 
o In WW I ballistics computing was a male
job, but it was feminized in WW II, when
200 women did the ballistic calculations
using a differential analyzer machine and
the ENIAC programmed computers. In
the military male officers got credit for
women's software inventions.

o Women fixed hardware failures such as

burnt tubes, shorted connections, and
wired the control board for different
punchcard machines.
 Women in Computers
 Betty Jennings 1945. Majoring in mathematics she was hired at University of
Pennsylvania. She became one of the first programmers to calculate ballistics
trajectories as a programmerr on the ENIAC starting in 1946, along with Kay
Mcnulty, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Ruth Lichterman, and Fran Bilas
 1958: the "computers" who made orbital calculations for the first US satellite
Explorer I were all women
 the "computers" were mostly women until the 1970s
 1962: Jean Sanet developed FORMAC programming language
 1965: Mary Allen Wilkes was the first to use a home computer and developed the firs
operating system (LAP) for the first minicomputer

Betty
Jennings
1945
 Women in Computers
 1965: Sister Mary K. Keller was the first woman to earn a PhD in
computer science, at U. of Wisconsin. Dartmouth broke its “men only”
rule to allow her to participate as a grad student in the development of
BASIC. She founded and chaired the Computer Science Dept. at Clarke
College in Dubuque, Iowa, for 20 years.
 1978: Sophie Wilson designed Acorn Microcomputer
 1980: Carla Meninsky was a game designer and programmer for Atatri
1980s. When Carla Meninsky was hired as a game designer for the Atarti
2600 console in the early 1980s, she was one of only two female engineers
working at Atari. Carol Shaw was the other
 when computer hardware manufacturing was automated then software
programming became a male job with higher status than in the 1940s

Acorn
microcomputer
 Influence of Universities:
IAS computer
 With the war over, Universities
across the world, mostly US
and UK spent time and
resources on computers.
 Mostly used by
mathematicians to solve
complex linear equations and
to find large prime numbers.
 John von Neumann helped
establish Princeton’s Institute
for Advanced Studies.
 The institute created the IAS
machine. First electronic
digital binary computer built
from 1942-1951. Inspired
many more similar computers.
 Influence of Universities:
EDSAC
 EDSAC-1949. Inspired
by IAS. Electronic Delay
Storage Automatic
Calculator. Developed by
Maurice Wilkes and the
University of Cambridge
Mathematical Laboratory.
 Operations on complex
numbers, division,
exponentiation,
differential equations,
special functions,
logarithms.
 Influence of Universities
 Computers became smaller and
easier to build over time.
 Early computers used vacuum
tubes for conductors, then
transistors, now
microchips/integrated circuits.
 Moore’s law- describes the trend in
computer hardware history in
which the number of transistors
that can be placed on an integrated
circuit has doubled almost every
two years.
 University faculty and staff were
able to build their own computers.
 LINC Laboratory Instrumentation
Computer at MIT. First real time
laboratory data processing.
 Project Whirlwind
 Project Whirlwind-1943
 Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) approached
by US Navy to build a flight
simulator to train bomber
crews.
 Finally completed in 1951,
Navy lost interest by this time.
 Later used as central computer
for SAGE project which
connected radar installations
all over the US and Canada.
Considered first computer
network in 1958.
 Influence of Big Business
 UNIVAC I-1951. First
commercially produced
computer.
 Built by ENIAC inventors
Presper Eckert and John
Mauchly.
 They started their own
company after ENIAC.
Eckert-Mauchly Computer
Corporation.
 UNIVAC I created for
Census Bureau.
 Sold 46 machines at over $1
million each.
 IBM
 Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating
Machine Company, after a series
of buyouts, became what we
know as IBM.
 Merger of Hollerith’s company,
International Time Recording
Company and the Computing
Scale Corporation.
Tabulating Machine
 New company was Computing Corporation plant in 1893.
Tabulating Recording (CTR)
Corporation.
 IBM became so dominant that US
government filed anti-trust suits
from 1969 to 1982.
 Case dropped, hurt IBM’s
reputation and business decisions.
 Influence of Big Business
 IBM 7000 series mainframes-1959
 IBM’s first mass produced transistorized computers.
 Faster and more dependable than vacuum tube machines
 Sold to national laboratories and independent scientists.
 Early mainframes could take weeks to set up and
multiple people would be assigned. Today only a
few are needed and the processes of networking
are far less rigorous.

The stretch computer shown right was made in 1959 and was the pride and joy
of IBM at the time. IBM always took a very formal stance aiming for business
and pushing forward. Competitors at Apple and other areas often aimed at
entertainment and friendly user interface.
o IBM a formal
business group
that made
professional
mainframes to
hold massive
amounts of data.
o IBM actually
hired an
aggressive firm
we know as
Microsoft. As
we know, later
they became a
powerful giant
and today
dominate the PC
market.
 CDC’s 6600 Supercomputer

1964: Seymor Cray of Control Data

Corporation (supercomputer firm of the
60s) develops the 6600 supercomputer.

o It performed 3 million
instructions per second,
which is three times
faster than IBM’s
mainframes.

o The 6600 Supercomputer was run

by 10 small computers, called
peripheral processors, that
funneled data to a large CPU.
o That way the CPU could process
data at its maximum level.
 DEC’s PDP and Cathode Ray Tube
Digital Equipment Corporation developed
produced its first Programmed Data Processor in
1960.

o First minicomputer to be able to play a

videogame: Spacewars! It was created by MIT
hackers.
o PDP used punched paper tape as the storage
method
o The PDP I consisted of a type writer, CRT
display, and a processor

o Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) is an electron

tube with an electron gun that creates the
image through a fluorescent screen.
o These images can be produced in many
different forms- like television or radar
targets
Personal Computers

 PC developed as transistors and chips

shrank in size.
 The microprocessor, a single chip with
all the circuitry that had occupied large
cabinets, led to the personal computers
after 1975.
 1976 - Apple I developed by Steve
Wozniak. His friend Steve Jobs had the
idea to sell it. Required a television set
to use.
 Went on sale in 1976 for $666.66.
 Apple II developed in 1977. Featured
color graphics, game paddles and
cassette tape with the computer game
"Breakout.“
Applie II
Apple: First PC
1st Apple computer

 1976 - Steve Wozniak built 50

Apple I’s on credit. Sold them for
500$ each to ‘The Byte Shop.’
 Followed by Apple II, Apple III.
Competed with IBM PC and its
clones.
 Apple was identified with counter-
culture and ‘hippie’ movement.
Apple III
 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
started in hobbyist movement. Apple II
 Logo influenced by hippie
movement.
 In contrast IBM is associated as the
epitome of big business and
corporate enterprise.
 Steve Wozniak

In 1976, Steve Wozniak (in partnership with

Steve Jobs) develop the Original Apple
Computer (Apple-1) and in 1977 Apple II.

• It had a fully assembled circuit board in a

built in computer terminal with a keyboard
and used a television for a monitor This machine was an innovative
because computers at the time had
multiple parts that had to be
plugged in and wired around.
Apple II was released a year after Apple-1 was released.

• First microcomputer that was mass-produced and highly successful.

• No mouse, Required memorization of keystroke commands.
• Contained colored graphics and the ability to hold a cassette tape
 Commodore PET
In 1977, Commodore International released a
home/personal computer called the PET .
(Personal Electronic Transactor).

o It was a single board computer with a

built-in monochrome-monitor.
o It was Commodores first full-featured
computer
o The processor controlled anything that
was connected to its ports
 In 1981, Don Estridge developed IBM’s first
personal computer (PC).
o The IBM PC changed the computer industry, by
increasing the number of personal computers
that were bought and sold.
o Estridge’s goal of developing a low-cost
personal computer that could compete with
Apple and Commodore’s computers.
o Developed quickly since IBM did not use its
own unique parts. Used ‘off the shelf’ from
different manufacturers. Open architecture
allowed other companies to make and sell
peripheral parts and software for it.
o Its success led to other companies creating IBM
compatible accessories and clones such as
Compaq Portable and diskettes in IBM format.

• Steve Jobs offered him the

position of President for Apple,
Estridge turned it down.
 Adam Osborne
1981: Adam Osbore invents the first
first portable computer, which became
commercially available.

o He was one of the first to know

that most computer companies
were not focusing on hobbyists It weighed 24.5lbs

• It was designed to fit underneath an

airplane seat
• It was not practical for business
applications
• It consisted of a small screen and
floppy disk drives.

Osborne-1
 Macintosh

In 1984, Macintosh was

first introduced by Steve
Jobs.
To show off the
It was the first computer to have a mouse and a GUI graphical display it had
(Graphical User Interface). Made PCs much easier to use, no MacWrite and
need to learn difficult programming languages. MacPaint

This computer was revolutionary because most

computer companies did not want to take part in the
daunting task of programming the time consuming
graphical user interface. They did not find it as
practical.

This is a Mac today.

 Shared Inventions
Mouse

Invented by Douglas Englebert

• No patents were ever current for and Bill English
mice being produced and many
iterations were built
• English made another mouse for
Xerox and it was used with their
first personal computer the alto
 Shared Inventions
VisiCalc is the first
spreadsheet program
that was made available
for PC.

Xerox PARC GUI

(Graphical User
Interface)
• Xerox let Apple (Jobs, Wozniak) look
at how their GUI and mouse worked
and allowed them to copy it
• Ported to IBM’s first personal computer
and was one of the first pieces of
software available for it
• A group of the people from PARC
created a company that extended the
original Xerox GUI and sold it to IBM
Advances built on Others

 When Xerox PARC came out with the

GUI and mouse, Apple took much interest.
 Apple got rid of the current commercial
plans they had and based their entire
personal computer idea around the GUI
and mouse concept

• Microsoft creates the original DOS (Disk

Operating System)
• Inspired by Apple’s GUI and mouse,
Microsoft comes up with Windows 1.0
• Both, Apple and Microsoft, “borrow”
ideas from one another throughout the
years
 Apple vs. IBM, Microsoft
 Apple’s market share shrank as less expensive IBM PC’s came out and
their clones that ran MS-DOS and Windows, which originally was
difficult to use, requiring memorization of keyststroke commands.
 Macintosh’s graphical user interface (GUI) was easy to use and user
friendly.
 Apple sued Microsoft for copying Mac’s interface in Windows 7, but
lost because Windows 7 was made just slightly different, making it
difficult for Mac users to work on PCs (i.e. window close button on
right instead of left, etc).
 The US vs Microsoft

 The US government sued Microsoft because it engaged in the following

monopolistic practices: copying others’ inventions by re-engineering them,
unethical sales practices, requiring computer companies that installed
Microsoft’s Windows operating system on their machines to also
exclusively install Internet Explorer free and no other browser, threatening
Netscape with demise if they did not sell the company for just $1 million
to Microsoft

 The judge ruled to break up Microsoft into several companies but the US
government decided not to enforce the ruling and allowed Microsoft to
survive, although Bill Gates resigned as President and took up
philanthropic activities with his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which
has supported GMOs in Africa
 Microsoft
 Bill Gates left Harvard after selling his BASIC
programming language to Micro
Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
(MITS)
 Founded Microsoft in Albuquerque. DOS
(Disk Operating System) was his first success.
Sold to be used in IBM pc’s.
 IBM and Microsoft partnered in 1985 to
launch ‘Microsoft Windows.’ Later released
95’, 98’.
 98’ offered Internet Explorer with the dawn of
the internet.
 Microsoft Office released for Apple in 1989,
then for Windows in 1990. Allowed average
people to use office business applications.
Around 1985 computers became useful common
tools in wealthy homes. Software for text pad
programs and games were available in stores.
 Computer development has been the fastest
evolving technology in the history of
mankind. Graphical achievements in video
games are one sign of how quickly the use of
computers has spread and to what extent.

Wolfenstien 3d 1990
(above)

Wolfenstein:
New Order
2013 (right)
 So what makes our computers today
work so well? And so not well at times.
o IBM and Microsoft no longer are the only developers of hardware today. We
have hundreds of products from many different companies on our shelves today.
Not only are they not all compatible but some software engineers go so far as to
make their products work worse on competitors’ products.
 Foxconn: Chinese Apple factory

Suicide nets outside the “housing” dorms of

Apple’s factory. The nets are to prevent the
rising rate of suicides by Apple factory
employees in China. Apple has never
commented on the issues within the factory.

 Problems with Chinese manufacturing of computers by Foxconn: starting wage is

$2/hour; work shifts are 12 hours with only 2 tea breaks; most workers live in provided
barracks style housing with 6-8 people per room; poor working conditions and the
stressful environment have led to worker suicides

 A recent important issue with computers is their manufacture in China and other
countries where workers are not treated well and are underpaid. There have stories
in the NY Times about Apple iphones manufactured in China due to greater speed of
production and responding to changes in manufacture. Workers report being housed
in barracks next to the factory and being wakened in the middle of the night to work
after only being given tea. These conditions and underpayment put competitive
pressure to underpay American workers. To get the details please go to the NYTimes
on the internet and search to find the articles on Apple’s Chinese factories.
Computer Basics
 Input and Output
 Input: Punched cards, magnetic
tape, keyboard, mouse.
 Output: Printed paper, odometer
style display panels, cathode ray
display.
 Modern PC’s include power
supply, motherboard,
processor/heatsink, hard drive,
random access memory (RAM)
 Upgrades to mother board:
dedicated graphics cards,
wireless network cards, TV
tuner cards.
The components of a modern desktop
computer:
•Motherboard- The primary circuit. Every device
in some way connects to the motherboard. Several
devices by default are connected to the
motherboard such as the system clock.
•Power Supply- Every major component in your
pc connects to the power supply such as fans,
motherboard, graphics card, etc…
•Central Processing Unit- The CPU is a
microprocessor that is the heart of all operations.
Both hardware and software depend on the
processes or ability to keep up with the events
going on.
•Random-Access Memory- RAM buffers the
stored information while being processed. It helps
the processor handle multiple tasks at once by
keeping things in order in a sense.
•Drives- Drives (hard drive for example) store data
when not in use.
•Cooling Devices- fans and other such objects
Computers must be recycled because thy contain
toxic heavy metals and chemicals
 E-Waste
E-waste is electronic waste that is considered hazardous waste in the US,
including computers, circuit boards, batteries, and flourescent bulbs (contain
mercury that causes brain damage, so if you break one leave the area as
unscented mercury is released into the air). E-waste needs to be recycled and
not just thrown out in the trash because the dangerous metals and chemicals
will leach into landfills and poison the water supply.
Lead,
 mercury, cadmium, and poly brominated flame retardants are all
persistent, bio accumulative toxins (PBTs)
They can create environmental & health risks when computers are

manufactured, incinerated, land filled or melted during recycling.
PBT’s are a dangerous class of chemicals that linger in the environment &

accumulate in living tissues.
PBT’s are harmful to human health & the environment & have been

associated with cancer, nerve damage & reproductive disorders.
South and West Africa receive 70% used
electronics and of that 30% do not work

• Burning flame – retardant

plastics

• The chemicals released have

terrible effects on the human
body and the rest of the
product stays in the ground.
Until it is removed some
day.
 E-Waste Toxic Metals
Unhealthy E-waste recycling practices in South and West Africa include:
burning plastic with brominated flame retardants, and burning PVC cables
to recover copper, both release highly toxic dioxins and furans into the air;
incineration releases heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury
into the air and ashes; mercury released into the atmosphere can bio-
accumulate in the food chain, especially in fish; acid leaching, wet
chemical processing and heat treatment for metal recovery cause pollution
o All the following is true of E-waste: estimated 20-50 million
tons generated annually, 5-8% of municipal solid waste, is
accumulating 3 times faster than any other waste, up to 80%
of E-waste is from the US for “donations of working
equipment” or “recycling”; Earth E-cycle promises US
charities up to $10,000 for every 100,000 lbs of E-waste
collected for safe “recycling” in the US.
 
 Pros and Cons of computers

 Pros of computers: increases worker productivity, increases quality and speed

of producing written documents, facilitates math calculations and spreadsheet
analysis; permitted mathematical modeling of the weather and many irregular
natural forms with fractal geometry and nonlinear systems theory; decreases
use of paper, saving trees

 Cons of computers: carpal tunnel syndrome, repetitive muscle strain injuries,

eyestrain, E-waste.

 Underlying beliefs about computers: the newest technology is the best, the
latest computers and software always improve function, the latest computer
has the highest status, computerization of work always improves workers’
lives. You may think of more.
 Effects: Economic, Social,
Environmental
 Computers make jobs and take
jobs.
 Created jobs such as web design,
computer programming, game
•Volti points out lack of availability of
design, tech support.
computers in the Global South
 Jobs become automated such as (developing countries)
ATM’s reducing the need for •At a disadvantage economically.
human tellers and robots on auto •E-Waste:
assembly lines operated by • 9/10 consumers own a computer.
computers replace human •2/10 have one they aren’t using.
assembly line workers. •3/10 replaced their computer last year.
 Computer skills essential to many •2/10 that disposed of a computer threw
jobs. Lack of computer skills can it in the trash.
negatively affect school •E-mail does save paper.
performance or finding a job. •Leaving computers on wastes power.
 Less availability of computers to •Especially companies or homes with
lower classes/minorities puts them several computers.
at a disadvantage in school & jobs.
 Unequal Access
Poor people, including many minorities, cannot afford computers and live in
poor communities with poor schools that provide little computer training.
Gender inequalities of access start in elementary school
◦ boys monopolize computers in schools, so girls have less access
Less access by girls to computers in school and their perception that computers
is a male field has led to fewer women obtaining computer science degrees in
college
Research found that diverse work teams are more innovative and productive
than homogenous ones, BUT discrimination occurs.
EVIDENCE OF DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT:
Young white men dominate computer companies and tend to hire other young
white men
More women leave computer jobs than men, due to discrimination
Fewer women in computer industry than ever before
Average of 20-24% women in computer/internet companies
Very lower percentage of Latinos and African-Americans employed by
 National Security Agency
access to computers
 _NSAKEY is one small example of how government has been in public
software for years. In 1999 this key was found that gave the NSA (or any
other linked agency) a “backdoor” into your computer to view whatever
they want whenever they please. Since the 1999 thousands of dollars
have been spent looking through Microsoft’s software for any signs of
current keys. Google, Facebook, Apple, and other giants are all known to
have given access to NSA and other agencies (they have full access to
every account including phones).
 2001 Patriot Act
The
 Patriot act allowed law officers to secretly break and enter
homes and take computers without a warrant.
In 2004 Brandon Mayfield’s home was broken into by police and

secretly searched
Mayfield was jailed for 2 weeks on suspicion of participation in the

Madrid train bombings.
In 2007 a court ruled that the secret searches of people’s homes that

the law permits violate the Fourth Amendment of the US
Constitution against unreasonable searches and seizures.
However, the Patriot Act was renewed by the US Congress in 2010.


Brandon Mayfield

This court ruling does in fact still stand today, except that the new format is
allowing the FBI, NSA, and other areas of the government to “tap” into your
computer. As we saw with the Edward Snowden scandal, they no longer need
a warrant to tap your computer if you are connected to the internet.
 TSA and Border Patrol
right of computer confiscation
The Transportation Security Administration that
searches people and their baggage with xrays at airports
has the right to seize anything, including computers.
The TSA is part of the Department of Homeland
Security, which can also conduct electronic surveillance.
Extending surveillance practices from the border to
internal transportation in the US: on an Amtrak train
from Chicago to New York border patrol agents
searched possessions and seized and destroyed the
laptop computer and hard drive of a student researching
Hesbolla because there were photos of them on his
computer (NPR April 2014)
 Sources
  
 žž"Designer of Apple Logo Explains The Design: Rob Janoff Interview | Obama Pacman." Obama Pacman | Apple News, Celebrity Mac Users, & More. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
<http://obamapacman.com/2009/08/apple-computers-inc-logo-design-rob-janoff-interview/>.
 ž"The History of Apple Computers." Inventors. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. <http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/Apple_Computers.htm>.
 ž"The History of IBM." Inventors. Web. 15 Mar. /library/inventors/blibm.htm>.
 ž"OBJECTIVE: Creation Education | Evolutionism Propaganda." OBJECTIVE: Ministries. Web. 10 Mar. 2010. <http://objectiveministries.org/creation/propaganda.html>.
 ž"Timeline of Computer History." Computer History Museum. Web. 08 Mar. 2010. <http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?category=cmptr>.
 žVolti, Rudi. Society and Technological Change. New York: Worth, 2010. Print.
 žUnited States Government Accountability Office
 žwww.envirosense.com
 žwww.greenpeace.org
 žwww.storyofstuff.com
 žhttp://good-bye-ewaste.webs.com/ewasteimages.htm
 žhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act
 http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/UN-Concerned-About-West-Africas-E-Waste-Problem-139281333.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-1
 http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/img/5-7-2.jpg
 https://www.google.com/search?q=Joseph+Mari+Jacquard&hl=en&client=firefox
a&hs=KiZ&rls=org.mozilla:enUS:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=eBZLT9asOYjyggecqsSDDg&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CA4Q
_AUoAQ&biw=589&bih=706
 http://www.pharic.co.uk/computer/index.htm
 http://www.ehow.com/about_5399779_purpose-computer.html
 http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/physical-object/general_precision/X42-79.1.lg.jpghttp://
 www.tech-faq.com/what-are-computers-used-for.html
 http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/events-timelines/07-computer-history-timeline.htm
 www.envirosense.comwww.greenpeace.org
 www.storyofstuff.com
 http://good-bye-ewaste.webs.com/ewasteimages.htm
 http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/Apple_Computers.htm
 http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0774696.html
 http://www.pharic.co.uk/computer/index.htm
  2010. <http://inventors.about.com
 Sources
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaitei_Takara_Sagashi
 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/eniac.html
 http://media02.hongkiat.com/bsod/bsod-preview.jpg
 Light, Jennifer. 1999. When Compters Were Women. Technology and Culture 40.3:445-83
 Milkman, Ruth. 1987. Gender at Work: The Dynamics of Job Segregation by Sex During World War II. Chicago.
 http://www.women.cs.cmu.edu/ada/Resources/Women/
 "| Electronics Reuse & Recycling Center." GreenerChoices.org. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.greenerchoices.org/electronicsrecycling/el_ewaste.cfm>.
 ž"A Brief History of Microsoft on the Web: Reflections on Microsoft.com from Birth to 'Middle Age'" Microsoft
Corporation. Web. 11 Mar. 2010. <http://www.microsoft.com/misc/features/features_flshbk.htm>.
 ž"Computer History." Computer Science Lab Home Page: Learn Computer Programming. Web. 09 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/History.htm>.
 Halderman, J. Alex. Hacking Democracy. MIT Technology Review. 13 September 2018.
https://events.technologyreview.com/video/watch/halderman-michigan-hacking-democracy/. Retrieved 16
January 2019.
 Schwartz, Jen. The Vulnerabilities of Our Voting Machines: When americans go to the polls, will hackers unleash
chaos?. Scientific American. 1 November 2018. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-vulnerabilities-
of-our-voting-machines/?
utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=policy&utm_content=link&utm_term=2018-11-
05_featured-this-
week&spMailingID=57720772&spUserID=NTY1MTY1ODExMAS2&spJobID=1520639068&spReportId=MT
UyMDYzOTA2OAS2. Retrieved 28 December 2018.