Dr. David S. Touretzky is a research professor in the Computer Science Department and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University. He received a BA in Computer Science at Rutgers University in 1978, and earned a Master's degree and a Ph.D. (1984) in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Touretzky has worked as an Internet activist in favor of freedom of speech, especially what he perceives as abuse of the legal system by government and private authorities. He is a notable critic of Scientology. Research is often described as an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting and revising facts. ... A professor giving a lecture The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ... Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the largest institution for higher education in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A public demonstration Freedom of speech is the concept of being able to speak freely without censorship. ... Scientology is a system of beliefs and practices created by American pulp fiction[1][2] and science fiction [3] author L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 as a self-help philosophy. ...

Research

Dr. Touretzky's research interests lie in the fields of artificial intelligence, computational neuroscience, and learning. This includes machine learning and animal learning, and in particular neural representation of space in rodents (e.g., in the hippocampus) and in robots. Hondas intelligent humanoid robot AI redirects here. ... Computational neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field which draws on neuroscience, computer science and applied mathematics. ... As a broad subfield of artificial intelligence, Machine learning is concerned with the development of algorithms and techniques, which allow computers to learn. At a general level, there are two types of learning: inductive, and deductive. ... The nervous system of an animal coordinates the activity of the muscles, monitors the organs, constructs and processes input from the senses, and initiates actions. ... Families See Classification Section The order Rodentia is the most numerous of the branches on the mammal family tree. ... The hippocampus is located in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. ... ASIMO, a humanoid robot manufactured by Honda. ...

Criticism of Scientology

Since the late 1990s, Dr. Touretzky has worked to expose the actions of the Church of Scientology. He sees the actions of the organization as a threat to free speech, and he has taken a prominent part in Internet-based activism to oppose it, also appearing regularly as a critic in radio and print. He has also worked to expose what he sees as dangerous and potentially life-threatening treatments provided by Narconon, the Scientology-based drug rehabilitation program. He maintains a Web site entitled Stop Narconon, which archives media articles critical of the program. Dr. Touretzky's research into Narconon was a primary source of information for a series of San Francisco Chronicle newspaper articles criticizing Narconon on June 9 and June 10, 2004 that ultimately led to the organization's program being rejected by the California school system in early 2005.^[1] See also 1990s, the band The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive, sometimes informally including popular culture from 2000 and 2001. ... The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. ... Narconon is not associated with Narcotics Anonymous, which is sometimes abbreviated Narcanon. Scientologys Narconon is an in-patient rehabilitation program for drug abusers in several dozen treatment centers worldwide, chiefly in the United States and western Europe. ... The San Francisco Chronicle, the self-described Voice of the West, is Northern Californias largest newspaper. ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

David Touretzky

Touretzky has undertaken extensive research into the secret upper levels of Scientology, and he has made this information available to the public on the OT III Scholarship Page.^[2] (concerning Xenu) and the NOTs Scholars Page .^[3] (concerning the higher Operating Thetan levels). These pages, he states, are academic studies of Scientology's texts, and the proprietary materials are therefore legally available due to careful application of the academic fair use provisions of copyright law. The Church has failed in their attempts to have them removed, after repeatedly threatening Touretzky with lawsuits and filing complaints against him with Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie Mellon, in turn, has issued statements in support of Professor Touretzky, noting that his criticism of Scientology is a personal affair and not the opinion of the University itself. Image File history File links Touretzky01. ... Image File history File links Touretzky01. ... This article examines the beliefs and practices of Scientology as taught by the Church of Scientology. ... In Scientology doctrine, Xenu (also Xemu) is an alien ruler of the Galactic Confederacy who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth in DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. ... In Scientology, the state of Operating Thetan is a spiritual state above Clear. ... Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. ...

Dr. Touretzky has been the object of public attacks by the Church of Scientology, including various "dead agent" campaigns against him.^[4] He has been accused of religious bigotry, racism, misogyny, misuse of government funds, support for terrorism, and collusion with the pharmaceutical industry, among other misdeeds.^[5] To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Free speech activism

David Touretzky is an Internet free speech activist. He has supported several movements in what he perceives as abuse of the legal system by government and private authorities: Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ...

• In 2000, Dr. Touretzky testified as an expert witness for the defense in Universal City Studios et al. v. Reimerdes et al., a suit brought by seven motion picture studios against the publishers of 2600: The Hacker Quarterly (the case name refers to Shawn Reimerdes, an unrelated defendant who settled prior to trial.) The suit concerned the publication of DVD decryption software known as DeCSS, which the plaintiffs asserted was illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Dr. Touretzky testified as an expert in computer science on the expressive nature of computer code, and convinced the court that code was indeed speech. Touretzky also created an online gallery of various renditions of the DeCSS software. Readers sent in their own renditions of the decryption algorithm, including a mathematical description, a haiku, and a square dance.

• In reaction to the federal prosecution and eventual imprisonment of 18-year old political activist Sherman Austin for hosting bomb-making instructions entitled Reclaim Guide on his web site, Dr. Touretzky provided a mirror on his Carnegie Mellon website for more than two years.^[6] In May 2004, to avoid harassment of the university, Dr. Touretzky moved the mirror from the Carnegie Mellon server to a private site.^[7] The US government has not commented on the mirror.

"This particular Web site seems to threaten some people yet at the same time Professor Touretzky believes he has a right to express himself as he sees fit." – Peter Madsen, executive director, Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics at Carnegie Mellon.

This article is about the year 2000. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Fall 2004 (21:3) 2600 Issue 2600: The Hacker Quarterly is a traditional (printed) magazine named for the fact that phreakers in the 1960s found that the transmission of a 2600 Hertz tone (which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given away free with Capn Crunch... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... DeCSS is a computer program capable of decrypting content on a DVD video disc encrypted using the Content-Scrambling System (CSS). ... The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a controversial United States copyright law. ... Sherman Martin Austin (b. ... A mirror is a surface with good specular reflection that is smooth enough to form an image. ...

Quotes

"No wonder Scientology hates the Internet."

Publications by Touretzky

Books:

• David S. Touretzky, The Mathematics of Inheritance Systems (Research Notes in Artificial Intelligence) , Los Altos, California: Morgan Kaufmann, 1986. ISBN 0934613060.
• David S. Touretzky, Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation, Redwood City, California: Benjamin Cummings, 1990. ISBN 0805304924. Out of print, but electronic versions are available.

Articles: Los Altos (IPA: ) is a city at the southern end of the San Francisco Peninsula (part of the Silicon Valley). ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The skyline of downtown Redwood City Redwood City is the county seat of San Mateo County, California. ... This article is about the year. ...

• David S. Touretzky, "Viewpoint: Free speech rights for programmers", Communications of the ACM 44(8):23–25, August 2001. DOI:10.1145/381641.381651 , extended version. (On DeCSS.)
• David S. Touretzky and Peter Alexander, "A church's lethal contract", Razor, 2003. (On Scientology.)

Other: Communications of the ACM (CACM) is the flagship monthly magazine of the Association for Computing Machinery. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a permanent identifier (permalink) given to a World Wide Web file or other Internet document so that if its Internet address changes, users will be redirected to its new address. ...

• David S. Touretzky et al., "Gallery of CSS descramblers".
• Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 8: Proceedings of the 1995 Conference (editor) ISBN 0262201070
• Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 7: Proceedings of the 1994 Conference (editor) ISBN 0262201046
• Proceedings of the 1993 Connectionist Models Summer School (co-author) ISBN 0805815902
• Connectionist Models: Proceedings of the 1990 Summer School (co-author) ISBN 1558601562
• Proceedings of the 1988 Connectionist Models (co-author) ISBN 1558600353

Notes

1. ↑ Nanette Asimov, "Schools urged to drop antidrug program, Scientology-linked teachings inaccurate, superintendent says", San Francisco Chronicle, February 23, 2005.
2. ↑ David Touretzky, "OT III Scholarship Page" online document, version of January 19, 1997
3. ↑ David Touretzky, "The NOTs Scholars Home Page" online document, undated version
4. ↑ Reader letters, Razor, February 2004.
5. ↑ "The Steve and D.C. Show", Xenu TV, July 14, 2005.
6. ↑ David S. Touretzky, "What the FBI doesn't want you to see at RaisetheFist.com", online document, version of July 12, 2005.
7. ↑ Break The Bank-DC S30 2001. (Touretzky's mirror of the bomb-making instructions hosted by Sherman Austin.)

The San Francisco Chronicle, the self-described Voice of the West, is Northern Californias largest newspaper. ... February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 12 is the 193rd day (194th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 172 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• Relating to DeCSS and MPAA v. 2600:
  • MPAA v. 2600, transcript of trial, day 6, July 25, 2000. (Complete text of Dr. Touretzky's DeCSS testimony.)
  • Damian Cave, "A bug in the legal code?", Salon.com, September 13, 2000.
  • Declan McCullagh, "A thorn in Hollywood's side", Wired, March 20, 2001.
  • David F. Gallagher, "Movie industry frowns on professor's software gallery", The New York Times, March 30, 2001.
  • David P. Hamilton, "Critics of DVD-copyright ruling argue constitution protects posting in all forms", The Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2001.

• Relating to Dr. Touretzky's mirror of bomb-making instructions originally hosted by Sherman Austin:
  • Sarah Hennenberger, "Author of explosives guide web site in court", The Tartan (Carnegie Mellon campus newspaper), 2002.
  • Karen Welles, "CMU professor's web site causing controversy, site offers info on bomb-making", Target 11, WPXI, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 2, 2003.
  • John Middleton, "Ethics and tax dollars", Citizens Against Government Waste (an organization backed by Microsoft and the tobacco industry [8]), May 1, 2004.

July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Screenshot of Salon. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Wired is a full-color monthly magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The New York Times is a newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with a worldwide average daily circulation of more than 2. ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Steel City Location Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates , Government Country State County United States Pennsylvania Allegheny County Founded 1758 Mayor Bob OConnor (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 151. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with 2005 global annual sales of US$39. ... The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. ... May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Dr. Touretzky's personal Carnegie Mellon websites
  • Professor Touretzky's personal Web site
  • "Secrets of Scientology"
  • Dr. Touretzky announces removal of RaisetheFist.com's Reclaim Guide from his CMU website to an external server.

• Scientology "dead agenting" websites and articles on Dr. Touretzky
  • Religious Freedom Watch: Federal Grants Funding Racism and Bigotry
  • Religious Freedom Watch: David Touretzky, Anti-Religious Extremist
• April 17, 2006 commentary about Tom Cruise on Countdown with Keith Olbermann