> > 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]