To the editor:
The April 29 Daily Cougar contained both a gray-box editorial and an editorial cartoon chastizing the apparent levity with which UHPD, HPD and UHFD treated Monday's bomb threat at the library. I can't help wondering how closely related that is to UHPD Lt. Skip DuRant's comment that given "current technology," "there is not a bomb that has been made that could fit into a computer."
Someone needs to tell Lt. DuRant about the incident over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, in which 258 people were killed when their jumbo jet was blown up by a bomb smuggled onto the plane in a "boom box," most likely smaller than the CPUs of the library's computers.
This is not the first time my attention has been drawn to the fact that many members of the UHPD seem seriously uninformed about technology. On a campus like UH, which is very advanced technologically, and given the rate of computer crime in the United States, this is a little scary.
Earlier this semester, I received an e-mail on my UH account soliciting child pornography. Although I knew it was unlikely the message could be traced to the sender, I reported it to UHPD, since this is a felony offense. The officer who took my report was polite, but basically exhibited the attitude that he didn't really understand why I was reporting this, since there was nothing they could do. He then called to report to his supervisor, who told me himself that he was pretty sure there was nothing they could do. As the reporting officer left my office, he asked, "Now, e-mail - that's kind of like the World Wide Web, isn't it?"
A friend experienced a similar incident with UHPD when he reported a theft of computer equipment from his office here on campus. The thief did not take the entire machine, but opened it and took some components. My friend apparently had a difficult time explaining to the officer taking the report that what was stolen was indeed valuable in itself, even though the entire unit wasn't stolen and even though the component was only one inch in size.
This may sound humorous and trivial, but if you think about these incidents, it becomes apparent how serious this ignorance could be. I think the case of Lt. DuRant's statement is obvious - current technology does indeed allow bombs to be made which can fit into computers, be placed in computers and detonated in computers.
The implication in the theft incident is also rather obvious: the inability to understand the value of what has been stolen and thus the seriousness of the crime.
In the case of "e-mail vs. Web," the serious legal difference is that between receiving, via university equipment and channels, an unrequested solicitation addressed to an individual for illegal activity of the most abhorrent kind (as with e-mail) and either seeking out the illegal activity yourself or accidently stumbling upon it in a huge pile of publications on the Web. I have to admit, I did feel a bit vindicated when the FBI made an arrest in the case two days later (this e-mail had been "spammed" to people across the country).
I am not suggesting police officers need to be systems experts, but I do believe that a campus like UH needs at least some officers who have a basic understanding of computers and how students, faculty and staff use them. Most of UH's almost 40,000 students, staff and faculty are not "computer geeks," but the majority of them use computers in their work and life at UH. UHPD needs to be able to support the UH community in this aspect of its life as well as it does all others.
Gretchen McCord Hoffmann
Coordinator of Library Instruction
University of Houston Libraries
To the editor:
I read Russell Contreras' column, and it occurred to me that part of the problem is that The Daily Cougar, like many other papers, focuses too much on conflict. What Contreras writes in his column is a classic example of oppression psychosis, which basically means a minority individual believes he or she is being discriminated against because of past discrimination that has occurred to minorities, when in reality, none has occurred.
It is easy to blame the silent majority (white persons) for our shortcomings and frustrations. It is easy to make statements that are not easily verified, such as "He called me a wetback. People should feel sorry for me, because I am a victim."
We need to do what Nike says, "Just do it." Don't complain - focus on your goals, and work towards them.
My parents were both migrant workers, and they worked the fields. I joined the military to get the G.I. Bill. My parents could not afford to send me to college, so I gave Uncle Sam three years of my life.
Please write more positive things, and report the good events that happen on our campus.
Let's get out of the whining zone and get into the reality zone. Let's quit embracing the victim role and blame ourselves when it is our fault, instead of blaming a white person. The statements of racism and and discrimination are too easily used, especially when it benefits the minority to do so.
Reymundo Consemiu
junior, RTV