TechLahore

The World's first computer virus, BRAIN, was developed in Lahore, Pakistan. It spread throughout the world; a floppy disk boot sector at a time!

Some of you may already know that the very first PC computer virus was developed in our very own Lahore, back in 1986. The invention is generally attributed to the Alvi brothers, Basit and Amjad. However, the role of their friend, Ashar Nisar, said to be the real brain (no pun intended!) behind the operation, is often overlooked. We did a piece a while back which covered the BRAIN virus and the Alvi brothers. And we’ve written about Ashar also.

While most people consider computer virii to be harmful – and they are correct in their thinking – the very first virus, called BRAIN, had a rather innocent purpose. It simply propagated itself without causing damage to software or data, without stealing any information or destroying your OS. Innocent as it was, it replicated the following message on every disk it spread to: “Welcome to the Dungeon (c) 1986 Basit and Amjad (pvt) Ltd.“

The brothers had not imagined that this code would spread so far and wide, but it did. And they were a little taken aback by how a simple tool, designed to track who copied their disks, could take on a life of its own. They are also rumoured to have made the world’s first PC anti-virus, specifically targeted at cleaning the boot sector and removing the BRAIN virus.

So while you can spin this story a dozen different ways, the fact is that it underscores the existence of a tremendously talented pool of computer programmers in Pakistan. And also that while the virus genre was transformed into something very nefarious later on, the “evil”, if you will, was injected into it by others. Not by its Pakistani creators.

What piqued our curiosity, then, was how various different media outlets were covering the 25th Anniversary of the Computer Virus. The New York Times published this story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/opinion/27Gibson.html

“IN January 1986, Basit and Amjad Alvi, sibling programmers living near the main train station in Lahore, Pakistan, wrote a piece of code to safeguard the latest version of their heart-monitoring software from piracy. They called it Brain, and it was basically a wheel-clamp for PCs. Computers that ran their program, plus this new bit of code, would stop working after a year, though they cheerfully provided three telephone numbers, against the day. If you were a legitimate user, and could prove it, they’d unlock you.”

The text is fairly balanced, but for some reason, the picture chosen with the article is that of a nuclear missile. What the missile has to do with this article, only the editors of the NYT know. But if there’s ever been an example of using the power of association to hijack a message, I suppose this is it.

Indian publications such as the Times of India and the Indian Express present this news in what can only be described as a “malicious” manner. For example, the Times of India throws this bit in trying to make it seem that Pakistanis were somehow accusing the US, or were using this virus to “expose” the US:

“A thin, balding man sits dressed unremarkably in a dark suit and tie. “You fixed America!” Farah tells him. “They always claimed to be the biggest protectors of copyright. You showed them up to be the biggest violators.” The man smiles. “Definitely.”

Read more: First PC virus created in Pakistan – The Times of India“

The Indian Express covers the story with the headline, “From Vandalism to Warfare“, and underneath this more attacking headline, simply reproduces the NYT piece.

Reading some of the comments, especially in the Indian Press, makes one wonder how people can take a piece of technology news and use it to feed their bias and hatred towards a certain group or country.

Of course, in addition to the links we’ve cited, there is tons of additional coverage also. A simple search on Google News will list dozens of articles for you. But while the history of the BRAIN virus’ evolution is interesting, what is even more interesting – and sad – is how something not even remotely connected to nuclear missiles or “warfare”, is being presented with undertones that do nothing but spread more hatred and further feed the already sky-high levels of bias.

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