Really Back to the Past -- Year 1995

Date: December 12, 1995

Source: THE STRAITS TIMES

Writer: Tammy Tan

Title: "TAS probes firm for unlicensed Internet services: First to have run-in with law for cyberspace operations"

Excerpts:

Under Section 70 of the TAS Act, anyone who "establishes, installs, maintains, provides or operates a tele-communication system or service within Singapore without a licence, if convicted, can be fined up to $10,000, jailed up to three years or both."
A LOCAL computer firm, Aris Microsystems, is being investigated by the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) for offering unlicensed Internet access services. It is the first company to have a run-in with the law for its cyberspace operations.

Date: November 15, 1995

Source: THE STRAITS TIMES

Title: "Microsoft planning full Internet product line, says Gates"

Excerpts:

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said yesterday [Nov 14, 1995] that his giant software company was planning a full line of products to capitalise on the explosive growth of the Internet and to allow companies to use the same technology to build internal communications networks.
"We believe in the Internet. We believe there's a lot that can be done there." [ -- Bill Gates ]
He [Bill Gates] also dismissed suggestions that the personal computers (PCs) that have propelled Microsoft's phenomenal growth could be eclipsed by a cheaper appliance-like device designed specifically to access the computing power of networks and the fast-growing Internet.
...
Responding to talk about low-cost "network computers" being promoted by Microsoft rivals, including Oracle and Sun Microsystems, Mr Gates said he did not think such devices would be very significant.
"You've got to remember Sun and Oracle have always had a reason why the PC was going to fail," he said. "That's not their centre [center] of gravity."
... he [Bill Gates] said that despite the current "gold-rush" mentality, the Internet was only a step towards achieving the vision of a fully interactive two-way broadband network -- the information superhighway that was last year's [1994's] buzz phrase at Comdex.

Date: December 31, 1995 (Sunday)

Source: THE STRAITS TIMES

Title: "Internet wiretapped for first time in US crime probe"

Excerpts:

How it began
Investigations began last spring [Spring 1994] after AT&T officials complained that cellular telephones programmed with stolen numbers and eavesdropping devices were being advertised for sale through a site on the World Wide Web. Eventually three people were arrested and charged with conspiracy, fraud and making international sales of illegal merchandise.
The [federal] authorities [i.e., Secret Service; DEA; Brooklyn Attorney Zachary Carter] found counterfeit and cloned equipment that included cellular phones, scanners, computers, bugging devices and pagers at properties controlled by Bowitz [alleged leader of the alleged conspirators].
In a case that federal authorities said involved the first court-approved wiretap of the Internet, three people were charged in what officials described as an international conspiracy to sell illegal electronic equipment.
...
Charged as the leader of the conspiracy was Bernhard Bowitz, a German engineer with homes in Las Vegas and Hongkong.
Federal agents said they had obtained court permission to monitor Bowitz's electronic-mail account with CompuServe Inc and posed as buyers of illegal equipment in more than six months of electronic communication with him over the Internet.
[Besides Bowitz, who] had been arrested in New York City on [Tuesday] Dec 19, [the other two people arrested were] Rachel Bowitz, his estranged wife, [who] was arrested [on the same day] in Las Vegas, where she lives, [and] Gregory Brooks of Seattle, who federal agents said was working in Germany as a salesman for Bowitz.
[Brooks] returned to the United States voluntarily, officials said, and was arrested in New York City on Wednesday [probably December 20, 1995 -- but may have been December 27].