Comment on the recent article on Madoff's scam

Mr Granahan

I read with interest the article by John Dodge about technology behind the Madoff scam (http://www.iddmagazine.com/issues/2009_42/the-technology-behind-the-scam-199529-1.html?partner=thestreet). It appears, from a quick read, to put much of the blame squarely on the AS/400 - the technology in question. I strongly object to this - it is, in my opinion, completely wrong-headed. I learned long ago that computers are stupid - they do exactly what you tell them, not what you want. If things were done on these systems that allowed Madoff to carry out his Ponzi scheme, it is not the system's fault. It is some programmer, some auditor, some whatever human being behind it all.

I am a computer professional who works on these so-called legacy systems - a false categorization, unless you lump Unix systems in along with it. (Unix came out over 40 years ago - shall we talk legacy?) The IBM midrange systems have a tremendous feature, backward-compatibility - anything you wrote 20 years ago can be compiled on current systems without any change in source code. Talk to us about VB.net - about API calls in Windows that don't work in the next release.

This strength of the system was exploited by a human - the extreme segregation of computing resources that let Madoff get away with his scheme.

Mr Dodge's report of the printing characteristics - well, it is a very narrow presentation of the system's capabilities. That seems completely beside the point. And this is not unique to these systems. At all!! A distinction without a difference.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I ask you to publish a retraction or clarification - e.g., that the technology behind it was NOT to blame. Perhaps something about the true strengths of the platform and how human beings were able to take those strengths and fleece other people in such a way. THAT would be an interesting study in human nature - not the veiled suggestion of culpability of any technology as against that of those who use it.

Regards

Vernon M. Hamberg
Software Architect
RJS Software Systems
www.rjssoftware.com