PIRACY BY COMPUTER

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Your very interesting front-page article, in the issue of Saturday, March 18, on "University Fears Laws Limiting Computer Use" was as incomplete as it was interesting. It gave only one part of the story and represented only a fraction of the University. The headline would have been more accurate if you had said "Some University Officials Fear Laws Limiting Computer Use."

To discuss this matter fully would require a memorandum as long as that of my friend Professor Kaplan, who is one of those who fear the present bills. You have no room to print a discussion of that length. I limit myself, therefore, here, to saying that quite a number of Departments and individuals within the University favor the bills now before the Congress or, at least, look upon them with much less fright than do Mr. Oettinger, Mr. Leahy, and Mr. Kaplan. For instance, I understand that the University Library does not take the same position as that expressed by the three gentlemen you quote. The Press certainly does not agree with them. And I am entirely sure that numerous Faculty members, authors of popuplar textbooks, volumes of poetry, or other works vulnerable to piracy by computer would feel as we at Harvard University Press do. My point really is that the University has many interests and many points of view which cannot be summarized in a simple statement of opposition to or support of the present bills. Thomas J. Wilson   Director   Harvard University Press