Welcome to DouglasDeBono.Com, the Cyberspace Home of author Douglas De Bono

Welcome to DouglasDeBono.Com, the Cyberspace Home of
author Douglas De Bono.

Readermail:

[Editor’s Note: PROMIS is a system featured in FIREWALL. I based this part of the story on my research which indicated such a system existed and was used by the National Security Agency as an espionage platform. The original PROMIS system was created by a company called INSLAW and the following are a series of emails from Bill Hamilton—the original designer of PROMIS. The question remains where do I draw the line between fact and fiction.]

Bill Hamilton wrote:

What you state about PROMIS seems accurate. Do you have other writings about PROMIS?

My Response:

Are you THE bill Hamilton who used to own PROMIS (way back when)? I presume you are referring to FIREWALL (which is a novel based on historical events) and I did refer to PROMIS extensively in the book based on unclassified or declassified information that I came across the course of my research for the book.

Bill Hamilton wrote:

Yes, I am the Bill Hamilton who has always owned PROMIS. The Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims sent an Advisory Report to the U.S. Senate in August 1998, in response to a Congressional Reference resolution that passed the Senate in May 1995, stating that INSLAW owns the copyright rights to every version of PROMIS, that INSLAW never granted the government a copyright license to modify any version of PROMIS for the purpose of creating derivative software applications, and that the United States would be liable to INSLAW for copyright-infringement damages if the government created any unauthorized PROMIS-derivative software. The government has always denied the obvious, however, so INSLAW has thus far been unable to obtain any compensation. I was not aware of your novel. I emailed you because I happened to read the paragraph on PROMIS on your blog site and was struck by its apparent accuracy. I will attempt to buy a copy of your novel. Is it available through Amazon?

My Response:

Bill, Thanks for the interest. Here's a link to Amazon from my website. http://www.DouglasDeBono.com/order.htm

Bill Hamilton wrote:

I bought a copy of Firewall and enjoyed it.

In case you are interested, under the 1976 amendments to the U.S. Copyright Law, which took effect on January 1, 1978, INSLAW, as the author of PROMIS, was automatically vested with five exclusive rights, including the right to make copies, the right to create PROMIS-derivative software and the right to distribute. None of the five rights can be deemed to have been waived unless waived explicitly and in writing. The way the federal government obtains waivers (or licenses) is through the so-called Data Rights Clauses in its contracts. The government and the contractor agree at the time of the contract negotiation to include in the Data Rights Clause certain provisions contained in the Federal Acquisition Regulations. The government included in the Data Rights Clauses of INSLAW's PROMIS contracts the right to copy for the government's internal use versions of PROMIS the government had contracted with INSLAW to develop, but never sought or obtained the right to modify PROMIS to create derivative software applications or the right to distribute PROMIS or its derivatives outside the federal government. The federal government did not even amend its Federal Acquisition Regulations until the late 1980's to incorporate boilerplate clauses that, if negotiated into a contract, would enable the federal government to prepare PROMIS-derivative software.

What this means is that the government could make as many copies as it wished of the 16-bit architecture PRIME PRIMOS version of PROMIS for U.S. Attorneys Offices because it had obtained a license or waiver to do so under one of INSLAW's PROMIS contracts, but the government would have infringed INSLAW's PROMIS copyright rights if the government ported the 16-bit architecture version to a 32-bit PRIME computer or modified the 16-bit architecture U.S. Attorneys version of PROMIS for operation somewhere other than a U.S. Attorneys Office.

To avoid any misunderstanding on INSLAW's legal rights, INSLAW spent five months in 1982 in meetings between its intellectual property lawyers and the Justice Department's bureaus and offices that had used PROMIS, gave the Justice Department a copy of a legal opinion on the matter from INSLAW's intellectual property lawyers, and obtained a letter from the Associate Deputy Attorney General in August 1982 stating that the Department understood INSLAW's property rights in PROMIS. The following year, the Department's top copyright lawyer sent an internal legal memorandum to the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, which had just stolen the VAX 11/780 version of PROMIS, advising that office that INSLAW owns the copyright rights to PROMIS and that the government's rights were limited to whatever licenses INSLAW had granted the government under the Data Rights Clauses of the contracts.

[Editor’s Note: This is a frequently asked question.]

Rick van der Hoef wrote:

Could you please tell me in which order I should buy and read you books?

Thanks in advance.

My Response:

Rick, Thanks for writing. The attached link provides a link to a timeline I developed for both sets of books. http://www.douglasdebono.com/newsletter/news19.htm The first four books go in the following order: Point of Honor Blood Covenant Reap the Whirlwind Rogue State They cover the time period from November 1997 to November 2000. The TERROR WARS Series is as follows: Firewall (Published) (1979 - 1989) Scorched Earth (1991 - 1995) Sell Out (1995 - 2000) Cold Rage (2001 - present) Both sets of books feature Louis Edwards, Jim Harper et al...

The first set is also available in ebook format. My order page takes you to links with excerpts, character lists etc... http://www.DouglasDeBono.com/order.htm

[Editor’s Note: As promised, I publish the rants and the raves. I’ve never been called a reactionary before.]

Yue Xiang wrote:

I was reading your site, and I came across your description of the PRC. Now, do you call yourself a reactionary, or is that description only related to your fiction. I mean seriously, I doubt the CCCP cheered when the Twin Towers got blown. You must be confusing them with some radical Middle Easterners. And by the way, the J-8's flight characteristics do not match that of the J-7; for very simple reasons: J-8 is a classic interceptor while the J-7 is a classic point defense daytime fighter (although the newer models have limited multirole capabilities). Why the hell do you think they strapped on two engines for the J-8? To make it look big and tough? Just look at the G tolerance of the airframes. By the way, your military information regarding the PLA and its various branches is outdated. I'm wondering just how old they are.

My Response:

Thanks for writing.

Let’s talk about the J-7 and J-8 fighters. These air frames are between 35 and 40 years old based on Soviet designs. My information came from public sources. Personally, I wouldn’t want to put my defense in the hands of these antiques, and I prefer the security engendered in the Super Hornets, F-22 Raptors and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

As to the PRC, let’s review a few facts:

1.This is a communist dictatorship, and so far, the record of such regimes is pretty dismal when it comes to basic liberty and freedom.
2.China enforces the one-child rule and imposes force abortions on couples who violate the rule. This is certainly an enlightened method of population control.
3.The crates of munitions found in the caves of Tora Bora were Chinese manufacture. So whose side are they on in the War on Terror?
4.China provided and installed radar decoys in Iraq just prior to the American invasion. I guess despotic regimes have to stick together.
5.China’s tacit approval permits North Korea to export offensive missile and weapons technology to fun places like Libya, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. Destabilization in central Asia vis-à-vis India is in China’s perceived interest.
6.Finally, it was one of your favored J-8 fighters that forced down an American reconnaissance aircraft while in internal airspace.

If this makes me a reactionary, sobeit. However, I prefer to view myself as a clear thinking conservative who understands that China’s interests do not coincide with American security or sovereignty.

BTW: The CCCP vanished about a dozen years ago.