October 1993 Computer Fraud & Security Bulletin

The banks have agreed that the number of wrongly rejected cards should be limited to one

in 100 000, however, to date, none of the biometric methods have reached this figure. A

simpler method maybe to include the client’s photograph on the card and this is currently being

tested by the Royal Bank of Scotland and the National Provisional building society in the UK.

Company denies stolen technology

As reported in the China Post, Acer Inc

vigorously denies charges brought in a lawsuit by

US computer company, Zeny Computer. The

company is accused of pirating a patented central

processing unit upgrade system. Dr. Robert

Chen, Acer’s vice president for Intellectual

Property Affairs, is adamant that the company

developed the software itself. “We categorically

deny having stolen this technology and have

documentation showing we have been

developing it for a long time”, he said.

Henson Mou, Zeny’s president, who accuses Acer of stealing his idea for its product, Chipup, bases his claims on discussions in December 1990 with Acer executives, where he claims to have broached the subject of the upgrade system. No one at Acer recalls the meeting and the company claims to have documentation proving research in the area since November 1990. The Acer system, Chipup upgrade, boosts computer power through the addition of an extra microprocessor to the central processing unit. The case is the first of its kind brought against Taiwan’s leading computer manufacturer. Chen describes the case as, “The price a big company has to pay, that people are going to come around asking for money.”

Winning the battle against card fraud

Barclays Bank has released figures, from its interim results for 1993, showing that it is winning the battle against card fraud. Losses due to fraud have fallen by more than 20% to f 12 million in the first half of this year, as compared with f 16 million for the same period of last year. Reports of fraud

on Barclays Visa debit card, Connect, have also been reduced. Bob Potts, managing director of Barclaycard says that Barclays success lies in a variety of anti-fraud measures including an artificial intelligence system to detect fraud, Fraud 2000. This system, released in April 1993 replicates human thought to identify card fraud even before the customer is aware the card is missing. This system is identifying around 20 frauds a day.

Australian copyright protection

The Australian Government’s copyright law review committee has recommended that computer programs continue to be protected as literary works under the Copyright Act of 1968. Acting chairman of the committee, Derek Fielding, said that in reaching this conclusion the committee had considered both international trends and Australia’s obligations under the Berne Convention.

“Nonetheless, in recognition of the distinct

nature of computer programs, the Committee has made a number of specific recommendations aimed at protecting copyright owners from the

unfair appropriation of their labour. The

Committee’s recommendations seek to balance

the public interest in having ready access to computer programs against the need for a legal

framework that provides sufficient

encouragement for the continuing development of computer programs”, he said.

Other recommendations of the draft report include:

l Introduction of a rental for computer programs

l Specific provisions conserving the ownership

of copyright in computer programs, the owner

of copyright for a commissioned computer

program, or a program made in the course of employment, should be the commissioner or

the employer

l No new exception for home (own use) copying

01993 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd 3