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May 18, 2000

Worried About Networking's Future

Dear Sir:
The article "New Faces Of Networking" (May 10) brings a few questions to mind. The networking hardware market is known for its relative stability. What will happen when we add software upgradability to routers and switches? How likely is it that the router vendors and third-party suppliers will start pushing out upgrades and fixes without adequately testing them first?

Our software vendors are notorious for releasing software apps and upgrades too soon in order to be the first on the market. What's in place to stop them from starting the same games with the hardware market?
Kenneth C. Coe Jr

Letters to the Editor...

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The Rebirth Of Artificial Intelligence

Dear Sir:
Your article "The Rebirth Of Artifical Intelligence" (May 16) dealt with a subset of artificial intelligence known as knowledge-based systems. These systems seek to model human reasoning.

Examples include: Neural Nets, which was mentioned in your article; Crisp Rule Based systems, which model knowledge as sets of rules the system iterates over to reach a conclusion; and Fuzzy Logic, which captures the concept of "about" and "almost" as opposed to traditional binary logic of 0 or 1, true or false, yes or no, on or off.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a term covers not only knowledge-based systems but robotics, machine vision, speech and character recognition, machine learning and other areas.

While there have been some high and low spots, the AI industry has been on a steady course and has increasingly become an integral part of the overall MIS world. There are knowledge-based systems at companies all over the world, including, among others, Kodak, MetLife, American Express, Du Pont, Nabisco, Lockheed and Ford.

The concept of AI originated in the 1950s. The second-oldest computer language still in commercial use is LISP, which was developed specifically for AI. Commercial applications of knowledge-based systems began in the late '70s and were accelerated by the introduction of the PC. The concept of Neural Nets dates back to 1969, with commercial deployment dating to the late 1980s.
Fred Simkin

Protecting The Public From NetPD

Dear Sir:
I understand how companies want to protect their rights to intellectual property such as movies, sounds and games. I do not understand how a group of Internet consultants who call themselves "NetPD" have the right to record activities of Napster users through their IP addresses ("NetPD Wants To Be Web's Police Department," May 5).

Recording a person's activities, regardless of the medium, without that person's consent or without a proper court warrant is not just against U.S. federal law. It violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects the U.S. public from unlawful searches and seizures.
Josh Green

Dear Sir:
Ninety-nine percent of Napster's users probably bought CDs because they liked the songs they heard on MP3. I have.

Everyone has made a tape of favorite songs from CDs or the radio and given it away to a friend, significant other or a loved one. Is this in any way different?

The record companies' lost revenue argument does not hold any water.
Mike Slevinsky

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