• Computer Science and Engineering Names New Chairman • On-line Piracy and Parasitic Computing Studied Computer Science and Engineering Names New Chairman Kevin W. Bowyer joined the Department of Computer Science and Engineering in August 2001 as the Schubmehl-Prein Professor and Chair. Specializing in computer vision, image analysis, pattern recognition, data mining, and applications to medical imaging, Bowyer is also involved in the study of ethics and computing. The second edition of his textbook, “Ethics and Computing -- Living Responsibly in a Computerized World,” was published in 2001. In addition he has organized a series of National Science Foundation workshops for undergraduate faculty from across the United States on the topic of teaching ethics and computing. Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty, Bowyer served as a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Florida. He is the author and co-author of nine books and numerous journal articles. Bowyer received a bachelor’s degree in economics from George Mason University in 1976 and a doctorate in computer science from Duke University in 1980. On-line Piracy and Parasitic Computing Studied Researchers at the University of Notre Dame have uncovered a new Internet vulnerability, parasitic computing. According to Vincent W. Freeh, assistant professor of computer science and engineering; Jay B. Brockman, associate professor of computer science and engineering; Albert-Lázló Barabási, Emil T. Hofman Professor of Physics; and Hawoong Jeong, assistant professor of physics, parasitic computing is enabled by the way in which communication occurs across the Internet. Since a standard set of protocols is used by all computers, one can “force” others to solve a piece of a complex computational problem by merely engaging them in standard communications. In order to prove their theory, the researchers used web servers around the world to solve math problems without their owner’s permission. The parasitic computing technique they utilized to harness the power of the other computers resembles distributed computing, which takes advantage of the fact that complex tasks can be split into small parallel processes and run simultaneously on a large number of individual computers. Their “usage,” although an academic exercise in this case, raises some interesting questions: “Is it legal to use a computer without the owner’s consent, even if calculations are being done in the background?” “How much access does parasitic computing allow?” According to the Notre Dame team, parasitic computing cannot violate the security of unwitting servers. At this point in time, it uses only those areas earmarked for public access. However, with faster, cheaper, and more sophisticated communications technology, variations could be engineered to make on-line piracy of computer time more efficient. Parasitic computing also highlights some interesting ethical issues regarding the ownership of the resources available on the Internet as well as the “theft” of time -- keeping each host computer from its intended purpose. For more information on parasitic computing at Notre Dame, visit http://www.nd.edu/~parasite. [back to top]