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Letter to judge (Randal)
I am a friend of Randal Schwartz.
Following is my letter to Judge Bonebrake requesting
leniency in Randal's sentence.
I hope that all who have received benefits from Randal will
write letters of support. Please send your signed letter to:
Marc Sussman, Attorney at Law
New Market Way
135 S.W. Ash, Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 221-0520
(503) 221-1908 (fax)
email: larryo@teleport.com
Many thanks, Lyle
==============================================================
Lyle Settle Writing Services
249 N 9th Street
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 293-5757
Friday, August 25, 1995
The Honorable Alan C. Bonebrake
Circuit Court Judge
300 Washington County Courthouse
145 NE 2nd
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Dear Judge Bonebrake:
RE: State of Oregon v. Randal Schwartz
Washington County Circuit Court Case No. C94-0322CR
The purpose of this letter is to urge your consideration
of mitigating factors in the
sentencing of Randal Schwartz on September 11, 1995. As I
testified at his trial, I hold Randal in very high regard for
his prodigious technical skills, his integrity, his
truthfulness, his endearing personal qualities, and his
contributions to society. I have never known Randal to be
impolite, dishonest, dishonorable, envious of others,
perverse, or malicious in any way. Rather he has been a great
help to his fellow workers, to the companies he and they
served, and to hundreds of people worldwide.
First, permit me to reintroduce myself. I am 70 years of
age. At my expense I made the trip from my home in San Jose,
California, to appear as the last witness in Randal`s
defense. I have worked as a technical writer in the
computing business since 1962 and am currently employed as
Technical Writing Consultant for Visa International in San
Mateo, California. Attached is my current resume.
I have known Randal since 1978. We have worked together on
two jobs totaling about six years. On these jobs we worked
closely together for about 1,300 days. Although we are no
longer working together, I see Randal several times a year
when he visits the San Francisco Bay Area to teach Perl
classes.
I recruited the sixteen-year old Randal for my technical
writing team at Tektronix in 1978, where he performed
outstandingly--far beyond the call of duty and far beyond the
requirements stated in his job description. In my opinion, he
did the work of three ordinary people. He produced astounding
results that benefited Tektronix and the people around him.
Permit me to itemize (*) some of his accomplishments.
*****Randal received a division-level award for his
contribution that brought Tektronix $9,000,000 in revenue.
This was the opinion told to me by Mike Maerz, then Tek`s
Business Unit Manager and now an Intel Vice President. You
may recall seeing the plaque that Tek gave to Randal in
recognition of this contribution.
*****Randal created the department`s word processing and
automatic typesetting systems. The systems greatly improved
the productivity of about 30 writers. Furthermore, he
maintained the system in perfect working order through
several changes of equipment. All of this he did before the
days of desktop publishing. For its time Randal`s system was
a big accomplishment, especially when one realizes that he
did this in on top of his heavy workload of assigned duties.
*****Randal served as project leader on several books. Three
of his books won awards from the Society for Technical
Communication. Moreover, one of the Hughes companies
selected Tek as their vendor of choice because they liked
Randal`s books better than those of other vendors selling
competing products.
*****I left Tektronix in 1982 to join Tandem Computers, where
I worked for ten years. In 1985 I recruited Randal as
principal technical consultant and co-author of Tandem`s
Security Administration Guide . The guide was a required
document for the Department of Defense`s security
certification program.
*****A requirement of the Security Administration Guide was
that it itemize all possible avenues of intrusion into Tandem
systems and that it explain how to prevent such intrusions.
Digging into the bowels of the Tandem system, Randal found
several previously unknown avenues of intrusion. Some of
these Tandem could fix (and did). Others required special
security software tailored to the customer`s configuration
and security policy. To help customers, Randal created
software that system administrators could adapt to their
particular systems. The Security Administration Guide was a
great addition to Tandem`s library, eliciting dozens of
appreciative letters from Tandem customers and Tandem support
people around the world. The Defense Department`s
certification committee applauded the book and
told me that it contains exactly the
right information.
*****After publication of the Security Administration Guide,
Randal returned to his home in Portland. A year or so later,
Tandem was about to allow its customers limited access to the
Tandem network. Tandem security experts had taken extensive
precautions to protect against the possibility of customers
intruding beyond the allowed limits. Before allowing customer
access, however, Tandem contracted with Randal to try to
break past the allowed limits into parts of the network
reserved for Tandem people. Within a few minutes after his
arrival in Cupertino, he succeeded! Tandem treated his break-
in as a contribution to their security effort. They fixed the
loopholes and happily paid his fee.
*****While Randal was working in Cupertino, he assisted with
San Jose`s Albert Schweitzer Concert, an annual event I
organize to honor the memory of Albert Schweitzer and to
raise funds for poor and homeless people. Randal gave several
days to publicizing the event beforehand and to distributing
the proceeds afterwards.
*****Judging from his teaching schedule posted on the Internet,
Randal has taught Perl to nearly 1,000 new students since his
indictment on All Saints Day 1993.
I ask you to consider the following points:
1. Randal has no previous criminal record.
2. Randal has throughout his working life demonstrated a
strong commitment to work for the betterment of his
employers. Beyond a shadow of doubt, I believe this was true
throughout his employment at Intel.
3. Randal has deservedly received public recognition for his
contributions as noted in the preceding paragraphs.
4. Judging by the discussions following his conviction from
Internet correspondents all over the world, there are
hundreds of people who agree that Randal is an
extraordinarily fine person. He does not deserve harsh
treatment.
5. Already, Randal has received harsh punishment for his
activities.
6. Despite Intel`s charges at the trial, Randal
nonetheless helped Intel for several years. An enlightened
management would be grateful to him for awakening them to the
fact that their security procedures were flawed.
Thanking you for considering this request for leniency, I am,
Sincerely yours,
Lyle Settle