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((Infobox person
| name        = Michael Lawrie
| image       = Michael-Lawrie-Baa.jpg
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| caption     = 
| birth_name  = 
| birth_date  = ((Birth date and age|1968|4|17|df=yes))
| birth_place = [[Lytham St Annes]] [[Lancashire]], [[England]]
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'''Michael Lawrie''' (born 17 April 1968) is a British [[computer security]] and [[social networking]] expert known for many things ranging from running [[Multi-user dungeon|MUD]]s to accidentally being the world's first [[Cybersquatter]]. He lives in [[Cambridge]], [[England]] where he created (and runs) the Cambridge [[The Freecycle Network|Freecycle]] group, one of the largest in [[Europe]].

== Early involvement in MUDS ==
While at the [[University of Leeds]], he took over management of [[MUD1]]<ref>((cite web|url=http://arch-wizard.com/history.html |title=The Arch-Wizard archives |publisher=Arch-wizard.com |accessdate=2012-08-23))</ref><ref>((cite web|url=http://www.ircnet.org/History/jarkko-mjl.html |title=IRCnet Home Page at |publisher=Ircnet.org |accessdate=2012-08-23))</ref> at [[Essex University]] in 1987. MUD1 was the first online role playing world, played by text through [[X.25]]/[[Packet Switch Stream|PSS]] and later [[Telnet]].

After its shutdown he carried on running [[MIST (MUD)|MIST]], another early virtual world, until he closed that down in 1991. Famous then simply as Lorry, he wrote the seminal guide for MUD management "Confessions of an Arch-Wizard".<ref>((cite web|url=http://arch-wizard.com/confessions.html |title=The confessions of an Arch wizard |publisher=Arch-wizard.com |accessdate=2012-08-23))</ref> Years later he wrote a few updates to this explaining how it all worked in practice.
<ref>((cite web|url=http://arch-wizard.com/footnote.html |title=The Arch-Wizard archives |publisher=Arch-wizard.com |date=2003-01-05 |accessdate=2012-08-23))</ref>

In 1988 he took over the [[AberMUD]] project for a year, running a standard distribution of the game at [[Southampton University]], [[Leeds University]] and the IBM PC Users Group. He also managed a [[VAX]] based mud at [[Lampeter University|St David's University College, Lampeter]]. Lawrie was the first person to send out the AberMUD [[source code]] to [[Vijay Subramaniam]] thus starting the proliferation of MUDs throughout the world.

== IRC ==
Lawrie has been involved in [[IRC]] (Internet Relay Chat) since it first left [[Finland]] and had his first [[IRC Operator]] on Vijay Subramaniam's [[IRCd|IRC Server]]<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.irc.org/history_docs/jarkko.html |title=IRC.org |publisher=IRC.org |accessdate=2012-08-23))</ref> in 1989. Since then he has been heavily involved in IRC both in the UK<ref>((cite web|url=http://ircnet.org/History/lorry1.html |title=IRC:#gb – History of #gb by Michael Lawrie |publisher=Ircnet.org |accessdate=2012-08-23))</ref> and worldwide and was central in creating [[Ircnet]] when the European servers split away from [[EFnet]].

== Public access systems ==
Michael Lawrie is an ardent supporter of free, [[Public Access Computers|public-access]] systems and servers and is deeply rooted in the history of such services and in the development and opening up of the internet in the UK. He was one of the management team of [[Edinburgh University]]'s Tardis Project<ref>((cite web |url=http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/wiki/Main_Page |title=The Tardis Project – Tardis Wiki |publisher=Tardis.ed.ac.uk |accessdate=2012-08-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524074623/http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/wiki/Main_Page |archivedate=24 May 2012 ))</ref><ref>http://lorry.org/Docs/tardis-paper-1991.pdf ((Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022))</ref> in 1987 and later managed HICOM,<ref>((cite web|url=http://uknet.com/hicom/ |title=HICOM |publisher=Uknet.com |accessdate=2012-08-23))</ref> a joint project between the [[British Computer Society]], the [[British Psychological Society]], [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] and [[British Telecom]] into [[Home Computer Initiative|HCI]] and [[CSCW]]. HICOM's [[OpenVMS|VMS]] system was open to anybody who wanted an account and as well as being famous for being the only machine that the hacker [[Kevin Mitnick]] ever had a legitimate account on. It was also the first public access [[Internet Service Provider]] in the UK.

== Career ==
In his non-online life Michael Lawrie started off as systems and security manager and computer misuse expert and is now a Commercial Security Consultant and [[threat assessment]] specialist. He has worked for a number of large companies and headed up the Commercial Security team at [[British Telecom]].

Online he was the head of the Trust and Safety division at [[OkCupid]]
== Historical preservation ==
He is the owner of a huge collection of historical computers,<ref>((cite web |url=http://ancientcomputers.com |title=Ancient Computers |publisher=Ancient Computers |date=2011-09-10 |accessdate=2012-08-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120220527/http://ancientcomputers.com/ |archivedate=20 November 2008 ))</ref> calculators, peripherals, electronic games, and more than a tonne of technical documentation. It contains more than 200 microcomputers dating from 1968 onwards and a number of larger machines, including significant VAXes and old PDPs. The collection is not currently available for public view.

== References ==
((Reflist))

== External links ==
((Wikiquote))
*[http://lawrie.net Lawrie's Professional Page]
*[http://lorry.org Lawrie's Personal Page]
*[http://superhighwayman.com Lawrie's Weblog]
*[http://lorry.org/Misc/Joshbook/ Extracts from "Internet Culture in Easy Steps" by Josh Smith]
*[http://uknet.com/freecycle/cambridge-freecycle-20070824.mp3 MP3 recording of a radio interview on BBC Radio Cambridge about Freecycle (24 Aug 2007)]

((MUDs))

((DEFAULTSORT:Lawrie, Michael))
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Leicester]]
[[Category:British bloggers]]
[[Category:British computer programmers]]
[[Category:MUD developers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Lytham St Annes]]

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