Smallish Post 3

I found the article written in the Ensign in 1984 about the Church and computers to be very fascinating. It was interesting to see how the Church viewed technology at the computers beginning stages. The statements that President Kimball had were relevant then and continue to be relevant now even though he had no idea what computers had in store for society. In the article it stated that the Church was able to index 70,000,000 names when in this year we were able to index over 5,000,000 names in one day. That is incredible to me! I also found it interesting that President Kimball gave some warning about technology and the reliance on it. He warned Church leadership to not rely so heavily on technology and to remember to focus on spiritual promptings. Now the Church Authorities are asking us to use technology wisely and still warning us about being engulfed in technology and putting so much of our life focus into computers.

The Cuckoo's Egg

One of the main themes I noticed while reading The Cuckoo's Egg was the theme of persistence. Clifford Stoll seemed like he had to go through some great lengths to get to his ultimate goal of uncovering the hacker. Just as the hacker spent so much time spying, Stoll had to place himself in the role of hacker in order to be one step ahead. It was interesting seeing how Stoll followed something with which he had no deep personal connection with past all the dead ends he ran into. Something that he knew to be unethical drove him to keep inquiring with the three letter government agencies and even when his relationship with Martha was waning because of his endeavor. The title really does portray the journey well, as a maze that Stoll had to explore through many different avenues. It makes me curious whether tracking a spy would be similar with how technology and the internet has changed since 1986. With the move from using computer lines to going over networks, it seems that the basis of espionage such as obtaining secrets and spying on many systems would stay intact thought the methods of obtaining these secrets may change. It would be fascinating to know whether spying over the internet has become easier than it was during Stoll's somputer security days or whether the access to spying has become limited by increased technology and security measures.