PARTINGSHOTS
122 JANUARY2021|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE395
Zygote
Theinimitable Zygotehadthe last word intheveryfirstissue ofComputer Shopper
backin1988.And nowhehasthelastwordinthe verylast issue
founded by Adam Rogas, now
aged 43. His company was
dedicated to preventing online
fraud, and raised ahuge amount
of moneyfrom investors.
Adam Rogas has been
arrested and charged with
faking the company’s
activities and finances to
syphon $17.5m intohis own
pocket. FBI assistant director
William SweeneyJunior said,
“It seems ironic that the founder
of acompany designed to
prevent cyber fraud would
engage in cyber fraud.”
Zygote, on the other hand, is
not in the slightest bit surprised.
UBERALAS
Ayear ago,Uber was stripped of
its licence to operateinLondon
after allowing impersonators to
upload their identities and
mugshots to genuine Uber
driver accounts, without any
background checks whatsoever.
Now it turns out Uber has
been spying on drivers and
passengers and dobbing them
in to the police.
In aleaked document from
the National Crime Agency,a
police manager boasts that Uber
has handed over 2,000 files of
user data this year,inbreach of
every privacy law in the land. For
this reason alone,its licence
should not only be withheld, but
the firm should be prosecuted.
SOUND OF SILENCE
The Covid-19 pandemic raises a
devastating barrier between
performers and audiences,
with venues shut and festivals
cancelled all over the world.
One alternative is to perform via
social media, but now musicians
are reeling from the news that
online giants Facebook,
Instagram and WhatsApp are
banning music videos, with the
announcement, “If you use
videos on our products to create
amusic listening experience,
your videos will be blocked and
your page maybedeleted.”
This is ahammer-blow for
creative talent struggling to
survive and seems not only
mean-spirited but senseless.
FAREWELL
So,here we are then. The final
paragraph of the finalZygoteof
the final page of the final issue
ofComputer Shopper.Iwonder
what thefinal word will be? It was
all of 33 years ago that Icameup
with the remarkably clever
pen-name of Zygote to mask my
true identity,mysociopathic
tendencies, and my fear of
gettingsued forlibel. Iconfess I
have never missed adeadline for
all of these 395 editions. That’s
because Ihaveenjoyed writing
every word of it. Ichose ‘Zygote’
because back then Iwas using an
Amstrad PCW word processor
that ran something called
LocoScript with aprimitive
smell-checker.Although it
couldn’t cope with my fondness
forforeign languages and the use
of profanity,the LocoScript
built-in dictionary was impressive.
The first word was Aardvark, and
the very last word was Zygote,
and that’s what Iwas determined
to have.The last word. Zygote
refers to the moment of creative
union between asperm cell and
an egg cell, so it represents the
very beginning as well as the very
end, so Ithought it was agreat
choice foraname.Certainly
better than Mel Croucher,which I
have always thought of as more
suitable foragrave robber or
crab impersonator.I’m not going
to do one of those overlong,
ceremonial, mawkish thank-you
lists, even though all the editors
and crew I’ve worked with here
have been great. But Iamgoing
to thank my lifelong friend and
collaborator Robin Evans for
sharing the honour of producing
theGreat Moments In Computing
cartoon strip that has ended my
page in every single issue.Iwrite
them, he draws them, usually
ignoring my script and making it
funnier.Sowhat is the final word
of the final paragraph of thefinal
Zygoteof thefinal pageofthe
final issueofComputerShopper?
Accordingtothe speech bubble
Robin has given me,it’s ‘GUB’.
ACHTUNG
Computer softwareis being
cited as amurder weapon for
the first time in aGerman court.
Ekkehard Zimmer,directorof
University Hospital Düsseldorf,
confirmed that afemale patient
has died after the hospital’s
systems were hacked and held to
ransom. The nearest alternative
treatment centre was ready to
receive the patient, but she died
en routeinthe ambulance.
Thepolizeihave cooperated
with the Ministry of Justiceto
identify the specific cause and
point of attack as acommercial
software package in common
use.Even though the hospital
now has the hacker’s decryption
key, Herr Zimmer could not
confirm how long it would take
to getthe network back up
and running. Meanwhile,no
emergency patients can be
admitted in these troubled
times of pandemic.
DIM SUM
Zygotewas delighted to read
Apple’s new Human Rights
Policy.The four-page declaration
contains the assertion that
Apple supports freedom of
speech and human rights.
“Webelieve in the critical
importance of an open society in
which information flows freely.”
These are very fine words,
but right near the end of the
declaration Apple has slipped
in aslimy get-out clause:
“We’re required to comply
with local laws.”
Zygotewould like to ask how
Apple can support freedom of
speech while it complies with
Chinese government surveillance
and censorship,and why its
App Store submits to China’s
demands to deletetens of
thousands of apps it doesn’t
approve of.Could it possibly be
something to do with the sum
of their Chinese profits?
ADAMAND EVE IT
Once upon atime,there wasa
Las Vegascompany called NS8,
