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In a message dated 5/10/2002 11:01:35 PM Central Daylight Time,
Scott Chase <ecphoric@hotmail.com> writes:
> >Good point, Scott.
> >
> >Similarly, people can be considered as Satanists regardless whether
> >or not a Satan really exists.
> >
> >The book chapter "Evolutionary Contagion in Mental Software"
> >that I announced previously has some material on the
> >evolutionary contagion of racist ideologies, including "white
> >supremacy," "Aryan supremacy," and anti-Semitism. Shortly
> >after I announced the chapter to the memetics list, my
> >computer receiving blank emails every minute for several
> >hours (an email bomb.)
> >
> If the file sizes were large (like around 150-200K) it may have been that
> nasty and extremely annoying worm that starts with a "kl" and ends with a
> "z" that's been making its rounds.
Hi Scott.
The emails I got on that occasion had no attached files, no
scripts, no sender name, no subject, and only 11 characters
in the body. The 11 characters seemed like they might have
been the name of a program that was sending the emails
from a remote computer. But these emails themselves did
not have viruses or worms.
I cannot absolutely rule out the possibility that the mail bomb
happened only by coincidence right after my book chapter
announcement.
> >I don't know if it was from the Aryan
> >Supremacist, the Enraged Academic, or just a computer
> >executing a self-replicating mistake. Luckily, email bombs
> >are not as dangerous as snail mail bombs!
> >
> Just extremely annoying.
>
> I suppose the recent lull in traffic on this list over the past week (for
> whatever odd reason) has kept discussion of the "smiley face" mail bomb
guy
> from getting into full swing. That stuff is really scary. E-mail problems
> are just a mere nuisance by comparison. E-mail worms and viruses aren't as
> deadly as snail mail anthrax spores and pipe bombs.
Generally, I agree. The "smiley face," the unabomber,
and the anthrax letters were all much worse than
anything reaching my computer by email.
There are, however, dangers posed by undesired software getting
into vital computer systems, or even computers used for important
research. The methodsof electronic warfare are also being actively
developed.
--Aaron Lynch
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