[109345] in Cypherpunks
RE: FWD: PC Computing Online: Bombshell
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Walter Burton)
Fri Mar 19 08:01:32 1999
From: Walter Burton <wburton@pipestream.com>
To: "'Cypherpunks'" <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 07:35:09 -0500
Reply-To: Walter Burton <wburton@pipestream.com>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Burnes [mailto:jburnes@iss.net]
> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 1999 3:24 PM
> To: 'Jean-Francois Avon'; 'Cypherpunks'
> Subject: RE: FWD: PC Computing Online: Bombshell
>
>
> My guess is this is a scam by ZD or its editor(s) to
> increase their hitrate and glom more dollars from
> advertisers.
Gimme a break! It's an April Fools joke! "Scam?!" Jeeeeeze.
Did you ever see the Sports Illustrated back in the '80s with the story
about the rookie pitcher who threw 160 mph fastballs? They had photos
of him pitching into a pile of sandbags. Didn't wanna hurt the catcher.
Few folks picked up on the fact that the first letter of each sentence
combined to spell out something like "Happy April Fools Day from Sports
Illustrated." There are MANY examples of this sort of prank being
pulled, dating from time immemorial.
And yes, increasing traffic is *definitely* ZD's goal. Duh! They're a
media company. That's their whole "raison d'etre."
> I think it says a lot about the present state of
> big brother that many people found the scam marginally
> believable.
That you would reflexively classify a decidedly banal April Fools joke
as some sort of malicious scam speaks *volumes* about-- well, I'll stop
right there. No need to get personal.
---
Walter S. Burton <mailto:wburton@pipestream.com>
For my PGP public key, send a message with the subject "get public key."
Fingerprint: 3E28 7C81 536C 92FE ED01 6B70 0E37 DB49 9F6C 8DF8
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
> [mailto:owner-cypherpunks@cyberpass.net]On Behalf Of
> Jean-Francois Avon
> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 1999 2:55 PM
> To: Cypherpunks
> Subject: Re: FWD: PC Computing Online: Bombshell
>
>
> Greetings Cypherpunks!
>
> Sorry guys, but my sense of humor stops pretty short of that one!
>
> I find this darn pretty serious! Did you check the source
> for the "april's
> fool" banner? Did you dis-assemble the code and check it
> out? If no, how
> do
> you know it is innocuous? A hoax disguizing a joke
> disguizing gawdz knows
> what! Pretty clever. People will go OUT OF THEIR WAY to
> download it just
> to
> see the cute little banner!
>
> Some people WILL believe it and WILL download the crap. Some
> other will
> want
> to see the joke, but is it one? This is like a pickpocket having an
> accomplice yelling "fire" in a theatre and later on say
> "T'was a joke...
> April's fool...".
>
> Ciao
>
> jfa
>
> and yes Tim, you can reply to me on Cypherpunks, I am still
> subscribed...
>
> :-p
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 18 Mar 1999 11:01:33 -0500, Sunder wrote:
>
> >Right, sure. When you try to "download" this program you get this:
> >
> > APRIL FOOLS!
> >
> > But it could happen . . .
> >
> > What a world, huh? Do you <I>really</I> trust your IS
> department? Your
> >boss? Do you know that they can legally snoop through your
> e-mail, look at
> >the files on your computer, listen in on your phone calls,
> check out the
> Web
> >sites you visit?
> >
> > Is this justified because they own the equipment and
> they're paying for
> your
> >time? Or is it an absolute abuse of authority and a
> violation of your
> >privacy? Do you have any privacy rights at work? Let us
> know how you
> feel.
> >
> >
> >
> >[My comments]
> >
> >However, I will add that any machine with a microphone,
> sound card, and
> speedy
> >network connection can do this. Most users won't notice,
> anyone with a
> >sniffer tool will notice the extra continous traffic. Under
> most unixen
> you
> >don't even have to write much software to listen to the
> microphone. (Netcat
> is
> >a great tool!) With 9x/NT you'll have to write a bit of
> code, but it's no
> big
> >deal.
> >
> >A while back, at a previous employer we used to have racks
> and racks and
> racks
> >of Sun servers and since we were bored we uploaded Bevis &
> Butthead sounds
> to
> >all of them and setup cron jobs. Every night the machines
> would say "I am
> >Cornholio, I need TP for my bunghole." But we could have
> just as easily
> >plugged in microphones and listened and used netcat to pipe
> the sounds to
> our
> >own stations should we chose to. Of course we wouldn't have
> heard much
> more
> >than the fans in the racks, but I digress.
> >
> >The warning in the article about blinking hard drive lights is fairly
> >ominous. Have no fear. Microsoft Swapping algorithms are
> shit. They
> always
> >swap randomly, even when there's little activity on the
> machine. So you
> will
> >normally see the lights blink and hear the drive going even
> if there's
> little
> >activity otherwise.
> >
> >
> >packetstorm@Genocide2600.com wrote:
>
>
>
>
