Paperless

Millions of individuals depend on the internet for information, communication, commerce and the conduct of personal business. Corporations depend on the internet for business-to-business and global intra and inter-business functions. The internet has become foundational to our lives. There is hardly a month that goes by that we don't become aware of computer viruses, internet scams or business frauds and failures. How about WikiLeaks? Paperless, by A. Townsend Marshall, shows how eerily plausible it would be to compromise the internet and take undetected control of it. Maybe Assange read Paperless. The novel is fiction, but . . . A computer scientist and doctoral candidate, Rich Fuller, proposes as his thesis a study to uncover weaknesses and propose remedies to the evolving internet. He is rebuffed by his doctoral committee and drops out of academia. The disenfranchised computer scientist sets out to prove his thesis by developing sophisticated software that exploits the internet and any business or individual who transacts over it. Fuller uses his ideas to develop highly successful businesses and commercial computer applications. Al Matheson is a happily retired IT executive who also had met the challenges of suspect business practices over the years. He is lured by out of retirement by an old friend to 'lead just one last challenging project'. The project is to implement Rich Fuller's so called commercial systems in a leading-edge manufacturing company. Success is mandatory for this company's future. A team of consultants, led by Al Matheson, is beset with unexplainable anomalies when they try to implement Rich Fuller's commercial packages. Their pursuit for answers leads the team down a winding path of personal devastation and murder. Technological assault on the world's most critical systems ensues. Could it happen now or in the future? Paperless shows just how and with a chilling conclusion as to what may lay ahead. Maybe the Assanges of the world are laying the way and a harbinger of cyber terror yet to play out.
About the Author: A. Townsend (Al) Marshall was born in Detroit Michigan. He grew up on the far east side of the city where he attended Catholic grade school and high school, before attending the University of Michigan in the early sixties. He received a BS degree in Engineering. Al was a rare engineer at the time, having elected English as his engineering curriculum electives. He wrote technical articles, for the Engineering College publication, the Michigan Technic. After graduation from Michigan, Al spent the first part of his career as a gas turbine performance engineer with a Detroit based company. He married Marina while attending the University of Detroit in evenings working toward his MBA. With an MBA degree in hand and strong emerging interest in computing systems, Al moved from engineering into information systems. Before retiring in 2002, Al has progressed in that field for over thirty-seven years. His first novel, Thread of Decency, in part, draws on his experience in industry which includes implementation of major computing systems in functional areas of engineering, manufacturing, finance, general business and most recently eBusiness initiatives. His second novel Paperless, builds up his first novel but stands alone as a new mystery also inspired by his years of IT experience. Al has led in defining major corporate information technology directions, systems strategies and the development of large and small organizations in their successful implementation. He is also a Certified Six Sigma Blackbelt. Al has been married to Marina for over forty-two years, has two grown children and four grandchildren. He and Marina enjoy woodworking, photography, quality time with family, friends and their life together in Northern Michigan. Al enjoys writing and has one other work in progress.