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Louisiana Man Pleads Guilty to Creating 911 Worm
mabu writes "The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that, roughly a year after his arrest, David Jeansonne pleaded guilty Tuesday to two criminal counts in a scheme that sent email to users of Microsoft's WebTV Internet service containing an attachment that, when opened, reprogrammed their computers to dial 9-1-1 without their knowledge. It still unclear what motivated this 43-year-old to launch such a bizarre worm."
"It still unclear what motivated this 43-year-old to launch such a bizarre worm."
...
What? Mean and stupid doesn't cover it?
It's like asking why that person cut you off in traffic endangering the lives of a half-dozen others... cuz their mean and stupid. It's not some huge racist or plot
The guy probably thought he was hot shit writing a virus [instead of something productive like an OSS project that could benefit others...] and released something destructive.
The balance in me wants to say "for every good there is a bad" but fuck it. The dude's just plain mean and stupid.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
It still unclear what motivated this 43-year-old to launch such a bizarre worm.
My guess is he wanted to flood the 911 service with useless calls, and in the long run potentially harm people because they can't get through to 911.
Perhaps he wanted to create a Denial of Service attack against the 911 system.
According to TFA, only 21 people actually received this thing. I've cause more damage most days just driving to work.
Next on slashdot: Bill Gates picks nose, AGAIN! Film at 11.
Yeah? Well I think you're overrated too.
Sorry. I must disagree. Flooding the Larry King Show with fake calls is somewhat funny. Flooding a 911 center with fake calls is NOT.
ROTFL - seriously, if you're going to email your 25 closest friends - shouldn't you first make sure your virus doesn't directly involve the police coming to their door? Granted, it might be considered a funny prank - but at least make sure you can't be traced as easily as the from: 'Best Friend in Louisianna'.
Actually, it would have been funny if it called up the local Pizza Hut. Or maybe if it randomly dialed people and asked if their refrigerator was running. This, on the other hand, was just dangerous.
Unknown host pong.
He had reprogramed them to dial romanian sex chat numbers he would have been invited to join the Direct Marketing Association.
Some people are just griefers in real life. You know the type online, I'm sure. Well, some people are simply like that in reality. They just like destroying things and making other people unhappy.
I think there was a good Calvin and Hobbes strip that kind of explains it, where Calvin explains that the best way to get rid of a bad mood is to give it to someone else.
Same basic idea - some people feel happy by making other people miserable.
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Why is it that so many people seem to think anal rape in prison is funny?
Because we are no better than the people in Iraq we call barbarians for their "rape rooms".
It's interesting to me how rarely it comes up that anal rape isn't funny: that it's torture, and torture is a criminal human rights violation that would have us clamoring to invade another country. Yet we not only allow it, we practical cheer for it. On a large scale.
And for any fool who thinks it's about giving people their just desserts, tell me what happens when these anal gang raped men reenter society. What kind of respect for others do you think they'll have?
And what type of people are in prison anyways? Dangerous people? Or non-violent pot-smokers or what?
Anyways... sorry for the rant but it's amazing how at this point in human history mob mentality still rules even the most allegedly civilized nations.
Cheers.