Andre Hedrick, 45, Passed Away

Andre Hedrick, a former member of InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) Technical Committee (TC) 13, AT Attachment, passed away July 13, 2012, at the age of 45.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) offers its condolences to his family and friends and colleagues at INCITS, an ANSI member and accredited standards developer, and in the greater standardization and IT communitites.

Hedrick was known for his work as a Linux kernel developer and as a lead programmer for Cisco System’s Network Software & Systems Technology Group (NSSTG), Network Operating Systems Technology Group (NOSTG), and Access Routing Technology Group (ASTG).

During his tenure on INCITS TC 13, which is responsible for interface standards related to disk drives and other forms of AT Attachment (ATA) storage, Mr. Hedrick in 2000-01 led a successful effort to block the extension of the Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM) specification to personal computer hard drives. CPRM and similar specifications are widely used by devices and services that make use of copyrighted material, including Amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader and the Spotify music service, to prevent content piracy; however, the proposed use of CPRM in personal computers led to criticism that content providers were attempting to exert undue control over individuals’ computers.

Hedrick earned his bachelor of science degree in physics from the College of Charleston and pursued a doctorate in physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University, where he also served as superintendent of the Dyer Astronomical Observatory. He became involved in Linux programming after working to automate the observatory’s telescope cameras and later moved to Northern California to work as a programmer.

He is survived by his wife, Valerie Hedrick, and their four children.

A memorial service was held July 27 at the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley in Berkeley, CA.