>
> I encountered something today which I find interesting in light of
> Anthea's problems.  It purports to be the FAQ (sort of) for those
> wanting to invade and destroy established lists, seemingly just
> for the fun of it (like the fun of destroying peoples' computers
> by writing new virus programs?)
>
> If it is a hoax, it seems well done.  It is supposedly an established
> organization under the name NEWSGROUP.INVADERZ .  Listed are addresses
> of "founding members" and a welcome to new "members" with the supposed
> addresses of all.  The steps in destroying a list seem well thought out
> to keep the legitimate subscribers and the listowner off balance until
> the list is reduced to garbage, which seems to be the point of the "game."
> It seems one "wins" if one's address is installed  in some sort of filter.
>
> Has anyone else seen this?  If so, do you know if it is a hoax or not?
>
> I'm not sending the text of the thing as it is long and it could be a
> hoax.  I'll send it to the list if asked.
>
> Douglas
 
>         Douglas Winship    Austin, Texas    [log in to unmask]
>                     Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner
>
  Remember that in one case a large government grant was at stake. In
  other cases whole economic programs depend upon the virtual reality
  and pharmaceutical applications as well as the fact that this
  technology might be linked to "bleeding edge" technology like
  optical processing which can radically shift the balance of power in
  the computer industry and the supreconducter industry. Sometimes, it
  is actually groups who simply feel that they are on the other side
  of the high tech landscape.  Sometimes, the sabotage is more
  substantial and leaves a permanent record which indicates that maybe
  what is passed off as one of the social agendas is really being
  motivated to cause chaos in the new technology by people who stand
  to profit from the failure of technological advances. I have seen
  some pretty powerful maneuvers way beyond nastymail on the internet
  which lead me to believe that those causing the disruptions have
  access to some very high tech equipment. Of course, we scarcely know
  what some of the agendas really stand for. Since we all keep
  archives of our mail, you can use a common intelligence device to
  ascertain linkage. Examine your mail linked to a peculiar occurrence:
  events that happen at the same time and are anomalous are usually
  linked. Check peculiar wording in your mail for recurrences in other
  mail -- perhaps even anonymous mail. If a similar distinctive or
  peculiar wording or syntax occurs the mail is either directly linked
  or linked to a common source which provided the wording for the
  other mailings. This is a lot of fuss for nastymail, but if you have
  high tech concerns or economic concerns perhaps it is worth your
  while. -- Paul.
 
--
 
Dr. Paul S. di Virgilio,  University of Toronto  [log in to unmask]