On previous occasions when we have encountered listserv or email
difficulties our system always provides a warning about forged
addresses indicating the true origin which would lead you to at least
the beginning of the source even if it were merely a transfer sight.
The message about the "Good News" virus seems to be circulating again
despite the warning from the US government that this is a false alarm.
In this respect, although viruses cannot be transmitted by email,
other annoyances can be transmitted causing something like a crisis
situation where your mailbox shuts down because it senses a corrupt
text. This effect can be achieved by as little as one concealed
character at the beginning of the header that is to say the part of
the header viewed by the postmaster. People might be mistaking this
corrupt mail for a virus but in reality it is merely a bad piece of
mail and has no capacity to corrupt any other mail. My impression is
that there are many "crackers" out there and that the net is becoming
progressively prone to something like swarming. You can resolve the
mailbox problem easily, but if you do not know what you are dealing
with it is hard to know where to start. As for the numerous error
messages flooding in all at once from one address, perhaps even the
wrong address, I have a piece of mail here where a threat was made
about setting the system to send back 25 copies of every error. I
don't remember whether it was sent directly to me or was transferred.
Not every act is well considered: in a world where power is
sequestered, there are many who can find nothing but a negative
expression for their desire for power. At least, electronic violence
is not as severe as the reality in the physical world. I hope that
this helps with some of the problems which were noted on the list. -- Paul.
--
 
Dr. Paul S. di Virgilio,  University of Toronto  [log in to unmask]