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MEMO: Dick Adler, a Los Angeles writer, editor, reviewer and electronic publisher, is working on a book called "TALKING WITH STRANGERS: On the Frontier of Computer Communications."

TEXT: What is there about the words "computer" and "crime" in the same sentence that makes even the coolest of media heads bubble and boil over? Although more and more of us use computers in our daily lives, is it because we have so little idea of how or why they work that we give them magical, even demonic powers? Does the ghost of HAL-the rebellious computer in the film "2001"-still hover over us, making us worry about losing control?

Suppose you're a reporter for a small daily newspaper. You use a computer to write and edit your stories, and you even have a modem that connects you by telephone to an on-line information service such as Prodigy or CompuServe. But you haven't really had any adventures out there in the electronic world known as Cyberspace: You have never called a local bulletin board or tried to understand the mysteries of the giant egghead system known as the Internet.

Suppose it's a slow news day, and you get a call from a computer security specialist with a hot tip. Did you know that by dialing a local number, computer users of any age in this very area can get information on all sorts of criminal activities, from bomb-making to credit card fraud? Is this a great story, or what?

That's what happened recently to reporter Michael Liedtke of the Contra Costa Times. Checking out a tip about a loose confederation of bulletin boards called NIRVANANet in the San Francisco Bay area, Liedtke must have heard those Pulitzer judges humming in the background as he typed his savage yet bouncy indictment.

"Tips on how to commit fraud, murder and other mayhem are just a phone call away in the Bay Area, courtesy of rabble-rousing electronic bulletin boards that turn the personal computer into a clearinghouse for crime," he began. "More than 45,000 computer users have called an underground Bay Area bulletin board, known as 'Lies Unlimited,' (one of the NIRVANANet members) that offers a roguish gallery of information. File titles include: 'How to Make Your Own Valid American Express Card,' 'How to Rob a Bank,' 'How to Break Into Houses,' 'Stealing Toyotas and What to Do With Them,' 'Simple Way to Make a Car Go BOOM!' and 'Twenty-two Ways to Kill.' "

Strong stuff. The trouble-as the people who run the bulletin boards in question plus many hundreds of their supporters soon pointed out-was that every single one of the files listed by Liedtke was already freely available in books (such as "The Anarchist's Cook Book") at local libraries and bookstores. Had the tipster mentioned that, the reporter would probably have stifled a yawn and written about something else. But those devil words " computer" and "crime" in conjunction pushed him over the edge.

Recently in the Chicago area, a man who operated a computer bulletin board in Des Plaines was indicted for allowing a 12-year-old Chicago boy access to pornographic material in a supposedly "adults-only" section of the board. The story as depicted in the media conjured up a vivid picture of pre-teen computer nerds blithely downloading material that would make the owner of an adult book-and-video store either blanch or turn green with envy. Without getting anywhere near that briarpatch of 1st Amendment rights vs. the flat-out illegality of supplying pornography to minors, at least two points might be made here. First, it is not as easy as the media make it sound for computer users of any age to get access to adult material, because operators of bulletin board systems know they can go to jail and/or lose all their expensive equipment if convicted of supplying pornography to minors. So they've set up the same kind of checks-signed statements of age, driver's license photographs, credit card payment, passwords-that magazine publishers and video rental stores use. These checks aren't foolproof, of course, but any computer-smart 12-year-old who can crack a bulletin board's moderately elaborate security can also probably figure out some other way to see dirty pictures and movies.

Second, the pornography available on computer bulletin boards is exactly the same stuff to be found at print and video outlets. Just because it comes through a computer doesn't give it any special powers of "virtual reality" or high quality. In fact, even the best animated graphics on personal computers, clean or dirty, look rough and amateurish when compared to magazines or tapes.

The other side of the coin is child pornography, and in this area computer bulletin boards have also been getting some bad ink of late. Operation Long Arm, a series of raids by federal agents in 15 states last March, turned up material from Denmark which had been distributed to American customers via a bulletin board. Not even the hardest-dying libertarian would attempt to defend the rights of pedophiles. But despite the law's best efforts, they continue to make and distribute pornography featuring children. And using carefully planned print media stories to create a climate of guilt and fear about computer bulletin boards isn't going to stop them.

It's not hard to poke fun at some bulletin boards and their users: the names of the other boards in NIRVANANet -"My Dog Bit Jesus," " realitycheck," "Burn This Flag" and "The New Dork Sublime" (the last run by a man calling himself Demented Pimiento) look like a bad day on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in 1967. And some boards don't seem very inviting at first glance, for other reasons: "Flatulence Plus" in San Diego might be one to avoid.

In fact, computer bulletin boards are like bars. Growing up in a non-drinking household, I used to think as a child that all bars were dens of iniquity and sinks of crime. It took only a few visits to convince me there was as much crime in bars as in supermarkets and coffee shops. Anyone who still thinks that computer bulletin boards promote or even condone crime should pay a visit to my local-the West Los Angeles BBS, where operator Gary Inman (a fire department captain of paramedics in his other life) makes sure that no laws are broken or even bent.

Computer crime does exist: As you read this, somebody is working on the Universal ATM Card, which will open every single bank account in the world. But the inventor isn't going to crow about it on some so-called " underground" bulletin board, which in fact lists its telephone number in every single free magazine and newspaper in town.

Don't Throw Out The Computer With The Crime

by Dick Adler