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H. L. Morgan

Research and Advances Apr 1 1972

Computers and society: a proposed course for computer scientists

The purpose of this paper is to describe a course concerned with both the effects of computers on society and the responsibilities of computer scientists to society. The impact of computers is divided into five components: political, economic, cultural, social, and moral; the main part of the paper defines each component and presents examples of the relevant issues. In the remaining portions the possible formats for such a course are discussed, a topic by topic outline is given, and a selected set of references is listed. It is hoped that the proposal will make it easier to initiate courses on this subject.

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Research and Advances Apr 1 1972

On the implementation of security measures in information systems

The security of an information system may be represented by a model matrix whose elements are decision rules and whose row and column indices are users and data items respectively. A set of four functions is used to access this matrix at translation and execution time. Distinguishing between data dependent and data independent decision rules enables one to perform much of the checking of security only once at translation time rather than repeatedly at execution time. The model is used to explain security features of several existing systems, and serves as a framework for a proposal for general security system implementation within today's languages and operating systems.

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