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Everyone, please send emails to this address of a similar nature:

Dear editor,

I am a computer hacker. By this, I mean that I enjoy learning and exploring computer technology. I have a degree in computer science, and am involved in many not-for-profit computer-technology endeavors. I am not a criminal. I do not violate computer security, I do not write malicious software, and I do not intentionally cause harm to the computer systems that I have access to. Any computer system access that I have has been given to me through legitimate means. It has come to my attention that you have used the term 'hacker' in the article linked below to indicate a person who intentionally violates computer security systems: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/191647 14?source=Evening%20Standard&ct=5

The proper term for such a person is 'cracker' or 'security breaker', i.e. one that "cracks" computer security. By using the term 'hacker' in the way that your publication has done, you spread misinformation about me, and people like me. You are demeaning and destroying a culture that, above all, values learning, knowledge, and wisdom. Please stop insulting hackers by equating them with criminals. For more information, see here: http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/appendixc.htm l

Please issue a correction, and please make sure that a clear distinction is made in the future.

(your name here)
A Proud Hacker

Do YOU read any of the links before posting smart-ass comments?

From The Currant Bun and The BBC.

NB : Before you make any cheap cracks, the people involved are seriously injured.

As such, you get this box thrust into your hands and you're asked to type in your PIN in full view of all the people around you.

Sometimes you can cover it up with the other hand, but this gets a little difficult if you are actually holding the machine with one of those hands.

Unsurprisingly Chip and Pin fraud is still climbing although the banks are spinning it by claiming it would be worse if we didn't have it. Hardly the end to card fraud that they originally claimed.

Better be careful to not store them too close to your self-cooling cans of beer. That could be a real mess! ("Mmmm, luke-warm coffee-beer!")

After the verdict, his victim's mother launched a bitter attack on the internet sex sites which fuelled Coutts's perversion. He had trawled for the most horrific "snuff " pornography and admitted subscribing to websites which glorified women being strangled, raped and killed under such titles as Necrobabes, Rapepassion, Hangingbitches and Deathbyasphyxia. Before and after the murder he spent hours looking on the internet for necrophilia, strangulation and "snuff " images and videos. Police found 5,000 pornographic images stored on his computer. Liza Longhurst, 72, said she was horrified at how easily the porn could be accessed and demanded government action. As she made the call, computer experts warned there was virtually no regulation of hardcore adult pornography on the internet - and that the law which could be used to prosecute people for distributing or possessing such material was years out of date.

A new email virus called MyDoom is spreading rapidly across the Internet through UNIX mail servers, bringing with it a dangerous attachment that, when opened, can give attackers access to users' computers through an electronic backdoor.

Apparently in their zeal to deflect criticism, they are ignoring, or don't read /. where a more plausible explanation as to the origin of the virus has been posted, and as to the motives behind it.

Too bad (for the site) their own readers don't fall for it

The above links are relevent to the BBC post as well.

Wrath of the geeks

If anyones anger has no measure, it is the wrath of internet zealots who believe that code should be free to all (open source).
So, it seems likely that the perpetrators of the MyDoom virus and its variants are internet vandals with a specific grudge.
SCO is the big, bad company that violates one of their sacred principles, as they would see it.
There's no proof, of course, but it must be one of the theories at the top of any investigator's list.

Interesting to see the BBC publishing this "reporting" on the heels of this

They argued that Mr Dyke, the BBC's editor-in-chief, was blameless for the "defective" system of checks which failed to expose the mistakes made by reporter Andrew Gilligan.

Mr Dyke, they argued, had a long list of extra responsibilities, from " motivating staff " to handling budgets and could not have been expected to check Mr Gilligan's story which alleged that the Government inserted bogus material into the Iraq dossier.

Although editors traditionally accepted responsibility for their journalists' shortcomings, that did not mean Mr Dyke "could or should" have had any clue about the inaccuracies in the story.

The BBC submission said its governors did not have "direct management responsibility" although they did take "ultimate responsibility for the BBC in everything it does".

And it argued, astonishingly, that the governors were never asked to treat the deluge of demands for an apology made by Alastair Campbell or the Government as "a formal complaint".

Meanwhile, in a separate legal submission, Gilligan attempted to claim that reporters should be allowed "a margin of error" to make mistakes.

And more:

On the BBC

BBC editorial system was 'defective'

BBC management failed to appreciate that Gilligan's notes did not support the most serious of his allegations

The BBC governors should have recognised the desire to protect its independence was not incompatible with investigating Mr Campbell's complaints, no matter what their tone

The BBC governors should have investigated further the differences between Gilligan's notes and his report, and that should have led them to question w

Even the French have a mighty fighting force compared to you pathetic Limey tools. Click here for your daily does of shame, then consider brushing your teeth.

I really hope you will just be able to copy files to these new mini iPods with ordinary file management software (i.e. Explorer on Windows, cp and friends) and have them playable on the iPod. I don't want to use iTunes or MusicMatch bloatware, especially as you need Win2k or XP to use iTunes on Windows (and yes, even though Windows 98 has been 'retired', there are still a heck of a lot of people using it. Trust me).

well, you can at least pick up the new "mini-ipod". only 65 pounds sterling... (source is here)

Well, here in the land of the Daily Mail (I'd love to give a link, but they don't actually have a website yet, presumably because they've been telling there readers for years that there's nowt on the internet but paedophiles and stalkers), the supply's probably gone down, because Asylum seekers eat them. No, really, they do.

I mean, Christ.

With album sales reaching an all time high (at least here in the UK -- I assume the US is similar), why does the RIAA keep insisting that online music is killing the industry? I personally download music from the net as a taster to see which CDs I should buy. I appreciate that there are some who do it purely to avoid having to spend the money, but the evidence seems to show that it's not a big enough problem to be hurting the industry. Do you think that this situation will continue, or will the balance swing towards more people avoiding buying music that they can download for free?

enuf said.

I know it's hard to see with your head up your ass

Wow, tad bit defensive there? Chill.

the reports of oil wells burning came hours before we had even crossed the De-Militarized Zone into Iraq

Here we have a report from somewhere around 01:00GMT on the 20th discussing *active* fighting in and around Basra, with specific mention of occupying the oilfields.

On the other hand, this seems like the earliest report of burning oil wells, from 05:30 GMT on the 21st, over a full day later.


since the Iraqies and Iranians are mortal enemies

Of course. I know I constantly lie to make my "mortal enemies" look better, with no gain to myself.

There's been lots of news that Saddam is linked to bin Laden and Palestinian terrorists.

We know envoys from Saddam have given money to the families of dead Palestinians, with more money going to suicide bombers. However, the bin Laden connection is very tenuous; the Czech government disputes claims of a meeting between Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi agent, and from what I understand, any al Qaeda camps in Iraq are in the northern region... under Kurdish control.

Bizarrely, the one potential smoking gun connecting Iraqis to attacks against US citizens isn't being hauled out. Strange, that.

You'll accept stories like "MS admits Linux isn't Piracy" (no F%^$^% shit) or a certain self promotional artical about Katz and his Dog book but not and article showing how gaming sales are outstripping music (even though both have plenty of piracy). For those intrested, goto This is London for the complete story. For everybody else, my off-topic apologies, but I've had it. Mod me down. WAY DOWN. I want a -10 for this. Obviously news on this site, like karma, doesn't mean shit.

If it wasn't so tragic, I'd make some quip about how London deserves this sort of result after turning themselves into a nation of disarmed victims. But no city 'deserves' a high crime rate, even if they have instituted the equivalent of "OSHA for criminals"

Maybe in your picket fence suburb you can afford to kick a criminal's ass, but over here it's becoming real risky business.

So even if I hear that laptop alarm go off I'm gonna ignore it and take the insurance.

The average thief is some crackhead looking for an easy score so he can get his next fix, or the twichty low-level manager in the next cubicle over funding his cocaine habit (or covering his E-trade margin account losses).

In that case I invite you to come here as a cop, this place is probably tougher than your projects plus this happened to my friend just the other day, and this guy that was stabbed is a coworker of mine. So even if I hear that laptop alarm go off I'm gonna ignore it and take the insurance.

In the corner of my Mall car park there are a few vans loaded with 5 buck TVs, 10 buck VCRs and 50 buck laptops. The cops here ignore them. Maybe in your picket fence suburb you can afford to kick a criminal's ass, but over here it's becoming real risky business.

The average thief is some crackhead looking for an easy score so he can get his next fix, or the twichty low-level manager in the next cubicle over funding his cocaine habit (or covering his E-trade margin account losses).

In that case I invite you to come here as a cop, this place is probably tougher than your projects plus this happened to my friend just the other day, and this guy that was stabbed is a coworker of mine. So even if I hear that laptop alarm go off I'm gonna ignore it and take the insurance.

In the corner of my Mall car park there are a few vans loaded with 5 buck TVs, 10 buck VCRs and 50 buck laptops. The cops here ignore them. Maybe in your picket fence suburb you can afford to kick a criminal's ass, but over here it's becoming real risky business.

• Zdnet (weird link, I know)
• ThisIsLondon

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probably the same as cnn is showing, but i have no tv. very dramatic. jem

probably the same as cnn is showing, but i have no tv. very dramatic.

Since so many appear to be slashdotted This is London also has it.

Avoiding the filter, etc, etc

Is it true the US economy is "falling off a cliff" (London Evening Standard, 7th February) a claim which is being made in several newspapers?

Also, the mayor of London,England, Kenneth Livingston has also said he will legalise cannabis when he is inaugurated.

This story appeared in the London Evening Standard a few weeks ago. Bear in mind though that this is the UK where anything geek related is considered very uncool.