Warning: April Fools Time again (forged messages on the loose!)
Dick Dawson
>Warning: April 1 is rapidly approaching, and with it comes a USENET
>tradition. On April Fools day comes a series of forged, tongue-in-cheek
>messages, either from non-existent sites or using the name of a Well Known
>USENET person. In general, these messages are harmless and meant as a joke,
>and people who respond to these messages without thinking, either by flaming
>or otherwise responding, generally end up looking rather silly when the
>forgery is exposed.
>
>So, for the few weeks, if you see a message that seems completely out
>of line or is otherwise unusual, think twice before posting a followup
>or responding to it; it's very likely a forgery.
... like this one? :-)
>There are a few ways of checking to see if a message is a forgery. These
>aren't foolproof, but since most forgery posters want people to figure it
>out, they will allow you to track down the vast majority of forgeries:
>
> o Russian computers. For historic reasons most forged messages have
> as part of their Path: a non-existent (we think!) russian
> computer, either kremvax or moscvax. Other possibilities are
> nsacyber or wobegon. Please note, however, that walldrug is a real
> site and isn't a forgery. Really.
>
> o Posted dates. Almost invariably, the date of the posting is forged
> to be April 1.
>
> o Funky Message-ID. Subtle hints are often lodged into the
> Message-Id, as that field is more or less an unparsed text string
> and can contain random information. Common values include pi,
> the phone number of the red phone in the white house, and the
> name of the forger's parrot.
>
> o subtle mispellings. Look for subtle misspellings of the host names
> in the Path: field when a message is forged in the name of a Big
> Name USENET person. This is done so that the person being forged
> actually gets a chance to see the message and wonder when he
> actually posted it.
>
>Forged messages, of course, are not to be condoned. But they happen, and
>it's important for people on the net not to over-react. They happen at this
>time every year, and the forger generally gets their kick from watching the
>novice users take the posting seriously and try to flame their tails off. If
>we can keep a level head and not react to these postings, they'll taper off
>rather quickly and we can return to the normal state of affairs: chaos.
>
>Thanks for your support.
>
>Gene Spafford, Chairman, USENET control freaks, Inc.
Adrian Le Hanne
>Warning: April 1 is rapidly approaching, and with it comes a USENET
[...]
>There are a few ways of checking to see if a message is a forgery. These
>aren't foolproof, but since most forgery posters want people to figure it
>out, they will allow you to track down the vast majority of forgeries:
> o Russian computers. For historic reasons most forged messages have
> as part of their Path: a non-existent (we think!) russian
> computer, either kremvax or moscvax. Other possibilities are
Path: einoed!fub!math.fu-berlin.de!nigel.msen.com!spool.mu.edu!wupost!usc!rpi!bu.edu!olivea!apple!unet.uu.net!moscvax!walldrug!purdue.uucp!spaf
-------
> o Posted dates. Almost invariably, the date of the posting is forged
> to be April 1.
Date: 1 Apr 93 00:00:00 GMT
> o Funky Message-ID. Subtle hints are often lodged into the
> Message-Id, as that field is more or less an unparsed text string
> and can contain random information. Common values include pi,
> the phone number of the red phone in the white house, and the
> name of the forger's parrot.
Message-ID: <4-1-...@medusa.cs.purdue.edu>
(what, your parrot is called medusa? is it that ugly?)
I get the point. Say, is there a RFC for recursive-forged messages? Is this
the real Gene Spafford? Is the real Gene for real? ;-)
Adrian (the carrot)
--
Adrian S. Le Hanne Einoed Unix & Netzwerke, Koepenicker Str.154, D-1000
a...@einoed.in-berlin.de Berlin 36. Tel.: 030/611 31 26, Fax.: 030/611 32 86
"On a day such as this you should insist on more than the truth" -Pere Ubu
Bill Gunshannon
|>
|> o Russian computers. For historic reasons most forged messages have
|> as part of their Path: a non-existent (we think!) russian
|> computer, either kremvax or moscvax. Other possibilities are
|> site and isn't a forgery. Really.
|>
I believe that now that the russians have shown themselves to have a sense
of humor afterall, you will find that kremvax is also a real machine!!
bill
--
Bill Gunshannon | "There are no evil thoughts, Mr. Reardon" Francisco
bi...@cs.uofs.edu | said softly, "except one; the refusal to think."
| #include <std.disclaimer.h>
Visceral Clamping Mechanism
>sp...@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford) writes:
>
>>Warning: April 1 is rapidly approaching, and with it comes a USENET
>Is this the real Gene Spafford? Is the real Gene for real? ;-)
It is a well-known fact that ARPA's original moniker for Usenet was
"SPAFF-SIM." It had a collection of 6 machines running BEATNIX and
a yearly budget of six dollars. That was a lot back then.
The next version will run under Plan 9 on an as-yet-unnamed
Distributed Processing Platform. Unfortunately the current
implementation spends all availble CPU time and bus bandwidth on
interprocess communication. The new version, called
"SPAFFALUPAGUS" is intended to reduce Usenet traffic by 50-75%,
but with a large surge each April first. Fortunately most of
the 1 April traffic can be solved by use of symbolic links, and
in some cases by sticking net.guru.wannabees in tiger shark
tanks with blutwursts tied to their backsides.
A cheap knockoff product has recently become available from a
company based in Taiwan. Unfortunately this product, in addition
to violating several Bell Labs patents and an obscure copyright
on Beards In Computing held by an undisclosed party produces
very low quality posts, in all upper-case, with occasional
errors in grammar, diction, and use of vowels/numerals. It is
called "SPIFF." Apple Computer Corporation has filed suit,
arguing that the low-level badness of the SPIFF interface violates
Apple Computer Corporation's numerous patents on ``Terrible User
Interfaces'' and further cites as evidence that both are targeted
towards people that otherwise would not have a chance in hell of
ever being able to operate a computer.
Apple Computer also disclosed that it has a U.S. patent pending
on "all user interfaces, from microwave ovens and potato peelers
to radar displays and medical equipment, including but not
limited to anything that puts pixels on a screen." DARPA officials
refused to confirm or deny the rumor that they are working with
the U.S. Secret Service to either construct an AI version of Teddy
Roosevelt or to deliver a large amount of thermite to Apple Computer
headquarters in Cupertino, CA. One highly placed source who spoke
on condition of anonymity said, "Apple has gotten too big for their
britches, and ... I can't say anything else. The SPAFF-SIM project
is ongoing, and will not be jeopardized. Further information can
be retrieved from /dove/null. Ha ha, a little military Usenet
humor there."
@Man
--
at...@rahul.net || "Burn hollywood burn!"
"I hanker for a hunk of cheese."