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Sober Attack on 87th Anniversary of the Nazi Party

Jack writes "ITO is reporting that Sober is scheduled to attack on January 2006 - the data coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party: "The next planned widespread of 2005's most prolific e-mail worm, Sober, is scheduled to start on January 5, 2006 based on commands hard-coded within the worm. The attack date coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party.""

302 comments

  1. Godwined in the summary? by bsartist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow. Does this mean the thread is over before it's even started???

    --
    Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
    1. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      You know who else Godwin'ed in the summary, don't you?

      That's right!

    2. Re:Godwined in the summary? by CupBeEmpty · · Score: 0, Redundant
      no it means its sober before its even begun...

      ...whheeeww I slay myslef

    3. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Crizp · · Score: 3, Funny

      Nah, the summary didn't compare anyone with Hitler. Spreading false information like that is just like Hitler spreading his propaganda!

      There. Killed it.

    4. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, this virus was chopped liver before. Now it's the most malicious evil ever unleashed upon us!

    5. Re:Godwined in the summary? by IAmTheDave · · Score: 1

      It's like how my chances of getting laid are sober before I've even started drinking...

      --
      Excuse my speling.
      Making The Bar Project
    6. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't mean to misbehave, but what does "godwin'ed" mean?

    7. Re:Godwined in the summary? by bdleonard · · Score: 3, Funny

      Come on, I heard that this new Sober variant was going to start by targeting .pl, then moving on the rest of Europe, and then go worldwide.

    8. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What no one welcomes their new nazi overlords?

    9. Re:Godwined in the summary? by uberdave · · Score: 2, Informative

      Godwin's Law is a Usenet term that states that the longer an online discussion/debate goes, the greater the probability that someone will make a comparison to Nazis, Hitler, etc. Once someone does make that comparison the thread usually breaks down into name calling and no further intelligent debate occurs. So, once Hitler/Nazis are mentioned, the thread is effectively over. Since this particular article starts with a Nazi reference, is the discussion over before it begins? More info here.

    10. Re:Godwined in the summary? by fireweaver · · Score: 1

      " Wow. Does this mean the thread is over before it's even started???"

      No, it just points out that the only thing Nazis are good for is trashing stuff and hurting people.

    11. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Moderatbastard · · Score: 0
      Very interesting. But what does "godwin'ed" mean?

      P.S. Who modded this blatant karma-whore up?

      --
      1/3 of jokes get modded OT. If you get the joke, mod 1 in 3 insightful/interesting/underrated to restore karma balance.
    12. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Fyre2012 · · Score: 0

      blatant karma whore?
      he was answering a legit question. i found it quite informative.
      and if my karma wasn't bad because of our wonderful mods, i would have modded him as such.

      --
      This is not the greatest .sig in the world, no. This is just a tribute.
    13. Re:Godwined in the summary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      he was answering a legit question.
      But not the one that was asked.


      ahref=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_trolli ng_phenomena%23Karma_Whoresrel=url2html-32209http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_trolling_phenomen a#Karma_Whores>

      So, which part of "needless information" do you not understand? Are the G,O,L and E keys on your computer broken, along with the caps lock?

  2. Well now what? by GeckoX · · Score: 1, Redundant

    The article summary itself brings up nazi's so by all rights this thread is dead before it even gets started.

    Could have at least thrown us a bone :)

    --
    No Comment.
    1. Re:Well now what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_April#Events

      gee there must be a nazi conspiracy, just look at all the things that happened on ol' adolf's birthday....

      87 years eh... gee 8+7=15! 1x5=5!! 5=fifth letter=H(itler) tuooodoootooodooo!! {twilight zone tune}

      WTF!!! Is slashdot gonna open up a section for conspiracy theorists, witchhunts and numerology??

    2. Re:Well now what? by Mercano · · Score: 1

      Could have at least thrown us a bone :)

      Well, we could start talking about the fate of Hitler's remains.

      --
      #include <signature.h>
  3. summaries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    These summaries are getting worse and worse.
    If you only have two sentences, leave it at that! You don't need to put them in the summary twice in the hopes nobody will notice.

    1. Re:summaries by rookworm · · Score: 2, Funny

      The editors have outdone themselves this time-- the summary actually managed to dupe itself!

      --
      The toad can't burp - and for some reason can't fart either, so it swells up and eventually explodes. --Anonymous Coward
  4. that's silly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, that's silly. Everyone knows that drunken attacks always go over better...

    1. Re:that's silly by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 1

      Like the beer hall putsch?

      --
      Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
    2. Re:that's silly by One+Childish+N00b · · Score: 2, Funny

      Gazza, is that you?*

      *may not be understood by non-Brits

      --
      Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
  5. Randomness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It's also the day that Buddy Holly released his last album. What the hell does any of this have to do with anything. Sheesh.

    1. Re:Randomness by tehshen · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's also the day that Buddy Holly released his last album. What the hell does any of this have to do with anything. Sheesh.

      If you search before you post, you'll know that Sober-G was used to send out Neo-Nazi spam. Buddy Holly was not.

      --
      Guy asked me for a quarter for a cup of coffee. So I bit him.
    2. Re:Randomness by gowen · · Score: 4, Funny
      Sober-G was used to send out Neo-Nazi spam. Buddy Holly was not.
      Actually, it's a little known fact that "Not Fade Away" was a tribute to the 1000-year Reich...
      --
      Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
    3. Re:Randomness by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      Ummm... This is Slashdot article about a worm... IT weenie? You mean like the people that created Slashdot and run it?
      Why do people defend their ignorance on a subject while demeaning those that are not ignorant?

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    4. Re:Randomness by Phae · · Score: 0, Redundant

      So we're sure that it's not to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel."?

    5. Re:Randomness by ajnsue · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah - that'll be the day

    6. Re:Randomness by modecx · · Score: 1

      Oh dear, that Dr. Pepper in my mouth didn't have a chance. Wet cleanup on on my monitor!

      --
      Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
    7. Re:Randomness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      If you search before you post, you'll know that Sober-G was used to send out Neo-Nazi spam. Buddy Holly was not.

      oh great, so now there's a Buddy Holly virus too???

    8. Re:Randomness by CthulhuDreamer · · Score: 0, Redundant

      "If you search before you post, you'll know that Sober-G was used to send out Neo-Nazi spam. Buddy Holly was not."

      What if you play it backwards?

  6. Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by neo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I mean they had really cool looking uniforms but there's no connection between their philosophies and what these people seem to want. Look up Fascism people! You virus writers won't actually like it. Honest!

    1. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by tnk1 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I mean they had really cool looking uniforms but there's no connection between their philosophies and what these people seem to want. Look up Fascism people! You virus writers won't actually like it. Honest!


      Oh they wouldn't mind it so much, they'll just make sure that they are the ones doing it to other people. I can't imagine the Nazis would have liked certain of their theories applied to themselves.

      When your culture calls for tall blond Nordic types and your Leader is a short, brown haired guy who looks like Charlie Chaplin, you have to ascribe to the view that some discrepencies are just fine, as long as you are the one defining the rules and have a lot of stormtroopers with guns to keep it that way.

    2. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

      They're just idiots looking for any excuse to cause trouble. Like those idiots with Che Guevara shirts who have no idea of what a paredón is.

    3. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by hackstraw · · Score: 0

      Nazis killed a bunch of people. Mmmm'kay

      Speaking of fascism and other "bad" governments, Check out Time's "Man of the Year" from 1939.

      1938 and 1942 are interesting as well.

    4. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Sure there is a connection. Both groups (the virus programmers and the political elite) do business by force. With either, your natural right (god-given if you prefer) to freedom of choice is oppressed and stolen.

      Obviously, both groups are against individual liberty and free will; otherwise they would respect it. Same goes for any thief, murderer, rapist, con artist, or politician. The type of government doesn't matter: either you do business by force, or you do business by voluntary association. Government, of course, is the organization which attempts to hold a monopoly on the initiation of force as a business model. (That is the only objective, absolute definition of government.)

      By contrast to both groups, the peaceful man does business by voluntary association. So yes, there most definitely is a connection there.

    5. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by timeOday · · Score: 1
      I was trying to tell whether the virus is really linked to Nazis, or whether VeriSign just looked up Jan 5 in a "this day in history" calendar and made up the connection. There are only 365 days in a year, so they're fairly crowded with anniversaries.

      However, the article does say the virus sends "politically motivated" email. Anybody have more detail?

    6. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by jumpingfred · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      The criteria for Time's Man of the Year is the man who had the most influence on news that year. Nothing about it being an influence for good.

    7. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by hackstraw · · Score: 1, Troll

      The criteria for Time's Man of the Year is the man who had the most influence on news that year. Nothing about it being an influence for good.

      By looking at the list, I would like to believe that is true. This is the caption for Hitler: "His figure strode over Europe with all the swagger of a conqueror".

      Also, keep in mind that in 1938 that the Nazi party and Hitler were fairly new, and were not yet seen as that bad. Germany's economy was just coming out of the sewer. In 1938, Hitler introduced the world to the Volkswagon Beetle, the most popular car in the world, and one that went without major redesign for many years. It was not until the end of 38 that Hitler started doing what he is known for today.

    8. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by flyinwhitey · · Score: 1

      "I fail to see"

      http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id =1535

      Not anyomore you won't.

      Now the question is, will you admit what CHe really was, or make lame excuses for his slaughter and butchery?

      And don't change the subject, address what Che is known to have done, not what the conspiracists think.

      --
      How pathetic are you that you follow me from topic to topic and waste all your mod points at once modding me down?
    9. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      I, for one, do not know what 'paredon' means. I googled it and came up with a surf camp in Guatamala http://elparedonsurfcamp.tripod.com/ I fail sto see how this resort pertains to my hero on a motorcycle, scourge of fascists until he was brutally murdered by the CIA, Che Guevera.

      Clearly you're skipping the spanish language results. Don't look for it in english-- you'll only find references to that surf camp. By translating sentences found via google searching for "paredon -surf -surfing", you get a vague idea of what it means-- something like "struggle", "uprising", or "popular anti-government activity". It's possibly significant that Paredon is a place in the Mexican state of Chiapas. "El paredon" has a definite meaning in the latin american revolutionary subculture, but its meaning isn't clearly communicated anywhere in english. At any rate, I think the OP's point is probably that the latin american struggle against bad government is much larger than one semi-successful revolutionary some forty years gone.

      And FWIW, Che was murdered by the Bolivian military. The CIA was quite pissed about that because they wanted to capture him alive (as if that would've turned out better!)

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    10. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by HardCase · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It was not until the end of 38 that Hitler started doing what he is known for today.

      Only because prior to 1938 he did not have the means. Maybe you didn't mean to infer otherwise, but the guy was a bad apple well before then.

      -h-

    11. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Lars+T. · · Score: 1
      Also, keep in mind that in 1938 that the Nazi party and Hitler were fairly new, and were not yet seen as that bad. [...]

      Holly Cow, what a load of crap - certainly not Informative.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    12. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The criteria for Time's Man of the Year is the man who had the most influence on news that year. Nothing about it being an influence for good.

      Not since they declared that New York's mayor (whoever the hell he is) had more influence on world events in 2001 than Osama bin Laden and the 11 September hijackers. Maybe back in 1939 they were more honest about their criteria.

    13. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by jcr · · Score: 1

      There's an excellent essay on the subject of the Radical Loser, by a German writer named Hans Enzensberger. It's probably on of the best introductions I've seen to the psychology of the kind of person who wants to join the losing side of WW II, or blow himself up in a crowded shopping mall.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    14. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by huge+colin · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Why is that a "load of crap"? Seems to be entirely correct, actually.

    15. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was not until the end of 38 that Hitler started doing what he is known for today.

      Except, of course, the installation of a dictatorship by supressing and prosecuting the political opposition. And the founding of the first concentration camps for political oponents. The abolishment of a free press. And the passing of the Nuremberg racial laws in 1935. The boycot of Jewish shops. The forced sterilisation of people with genetic defects. ...

      Maybe you should just read a bit more about history...

    16. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Volkswagen.

    17. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by minus_273 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      "And FWIW, Che was murdered by the Bolivian military."

      how can you murder a criminal fighting against you? lets forget how many people che personally killed.

      --
      The war with islam is a war on the beast
      The war on terror is a war for peace
    18. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Um, kristallnacht was in 1933. The Nazis were already very controversial by the time of the 1936 olympic games. So the statement "in 1938 that the Nazi party and Hitler were fairly new, and were not yet seen as that bad" is bollocks.

    19. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      By "enemies", you mean the members of the criminal Batista regime, don't you?

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    20. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by shma · · Score: 1


      Also, keep in mind that in 1938 that the Nazi party and Hitler were fairly new, and were not yet seen as that bad.

      This is not even remotely true. Perhaps you've heard of this set of laws, enacted in 1935. The truth is Hitler aims were apparent from the 1920's. If Time did indeed take into account only the magnitude, rather than nature, of a man's influence on world events when choosing their Man of the Year, then undoubtably Hitler deserved the title. But I would at least consider the idea, considering the institutionalized nature of racism and especially anti-semitism at the time in many parts of the world (including the US), that his actions may not have been unfavourable in the eyes of some of the Time editors.

      --
      I came here for a good argument
    21. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Also, keep in mind that in 1938 that the Nazi party and Hitler were fairly new, and were not yet seen as that bad. [...]
      Holly Cow, what a load of crap - certainly not Informative.

      Depends on who was doing the seeing. In the US, the business establishment loved Hitler because he was opposed to socialism, unions, and workers' rights. The Communist Party, on the other hand, gained a lot of converts in the '30s and '40s because they were the loudest in speaking out against Hitler.

    22. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by flosofl · · Score: 1

      Yes, it sent neo-nazi spam. Really.

      --
      "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
    23. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see. So CHe now represents what he was really against. So that would be like Reagan or Bush saying that they wanted a strong America with a balanced budget, but it was the exact opposite .

    24. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Lars+T. · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well,it may have been news for someone from the American backwoods, but most anybody else must have noticed that Hitler tried a coup d'etat in 1923, and was thrown in jail for some time. After he took power in 1933, he soon outlawed all other parties, and threw tens of thousands of people opposing him into Concentration Camps. Then he began a massive rearmament against the terms of the Versaille peace treaty and seriously cut into the rights of Jews. All before 1938.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    25. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except, of course, the installation of a dictatorship by supressing and prosecuting the political opposition.

      Technically, he was elected. Though they did suppress political parties that they didn't like. Just like nationalist political parties have been broken up in several European countries in the past couple of years, because the politicans in power didn't like them. Perhaps it's a hard habit to break.

      And the founding of the first concentration camps for political oponents.

      The very first concentration camps were created by the British in their attempts to exterminate the Boers, the Dutch-descended settlers in South Africa. You might protest that that was in a military, not political, situation; I'd counter that war is politics by other means, and throwing Boer children in camps to die is hardly militarily necessary -- but the point is debatable.

      The abolishment of a free press.
      Yes, that's true; they viewed control of the press as necessary in cleaning up their culture, which was their main goal. Our modern day press that's controlled by corporations is so much more free, of course. Of course.

      And the passing of the Nuremberg racial laws in 1935.
      Based in part on racial laws in the U.S. at the time.

      The boycot of Jewish shops.
      Major worldwide Jewish leaders had proclaimed a boycott of German goods before the Nazis did this. Even Nazis are entitled to tit-for-tat.

      The forced sterilisation of people with genetic defects.
      Modeled after U.S. laws that did the same.

      Maybe you should just read a bit more about history...
      It is not just volume of reading about history that is important, but diversity of sources and viewpoints. Most people reading this post will now assume that it was posted by a neo-Nazi -- but that's not true. It's just that you can learn a hell of a lot more if you do the unthinkable and read the arguments of your enemies as well as your friends. You get a better approximation of the "truth" by reading all the sides, not just one, as well as getting a better idea of how vastly complex human activities and motivations can be.

    26. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by aesiamun · · Score: 1

      I fail to see how this is not informative...or even a pile of crap.

      It's true, the Nazi's weren't dangerous or hated at first...they were a political party based on what I believe was the working man's party. That's how Hitler started, as a socialist.

    27. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Neph · · Score: 1
      I, for one, do not know what 'paredon' means

      Since none of the other helpful respondants have actually given you the answer to this: The word has several meanings in spanish. It's based on "pared" (wall). It means a particularly thick or sturdy wall, perhaps one designed that way as a defensive structure, and can refer more specifically to such a wall left standing in the middle of ruins.

      The context of the original post, however, clearly points to one specific meaning: It's the wall against which stand the people who are condemned to death by firing squad, or the act of execution by firing squad itself.

      reference here

    28. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by rxmd · · Score: 1
      Um, kristallnacht was in 1933. The Nazis were already very controversial by the time of the 1936 olympic games. So the statement "in 1938 that the Nazi party and Hitler were fairly new, and were not yet seen as that bad" is bollocks.
      The Kkristallnacht was in 1938, the night of November 9 to November 10. It says so in the article you were linking to. Did you actually bother to read it? Not that I disagree with your point.
      --
      As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
    29. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by evilbessie · · Score: 1

      um 2006 - 87 = 1919...

      at a guess the nazi party was created just after the second world war, but i have no clue, just using what figures were available. Don't see where you were going with these dates. The Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Ge rman_Workers_Party don't seem to give a definitive answer when the NAZI party was actually created and i think a date is purely arbitary any way.

    30. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by saforrest · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Also, keep in mind that in 1938 that the Nazi party and Hitler were fairly new, and were not yet seen as that bad. Germany's economy was just coming out of the sewer. In 1938, Hitler introduced the world to the Volkswagon Beetle, the most popular car in the world, and one that went without major redesign for many years. It was not until the end of 38 that Hitler started doing what he is known for today.

      Yes, clearly in 1938 the Nuremberg Laws, the forced sterilization of Gypsies and the handicapped, the re-armament of the Rhineland, the outright assassination of political opponents, and the firebombing of Guernica by the German Condor Legion all paled in the eyes of the world besides the amazing achievement of the Volkswagen Beetle.

      Please, learn some goddamned history so you can make some more informed dumbass comments. The thirties in Europe was an armed camp, divided between Communism, Fascism, and everyone else forcefully suppressing either from taking over their country. He wasn't some fairytale poster boy who just randomly went bad; though I've never read it, I understand that the size of his ambition is evident in Mein Kampf, written long before 1938.

    31. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1 to parent. I can understand the motivation for not putting OBL's face on the cover of Time for the man of the year, given the visceral reaction most Americans have to him. BUT, we let our emotions cloud our judgement, rather than letting logic do the driving. Guiliani as man of the year is probably the tamest example of this. Invading and remaining in Iraq is probably the most extreme.

    32. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by imsabbel · · Score: 1

      The time article is online.
      And its a rather chilling read, as you can see how perceptive the writers were. They already knew something bad is coming, and the intention of the nomination is likely to be a wakeup call.

      --
      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    33. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by MaggieL · · Score: 1

      Only because prior to 1938 he did not have the means. Maybe you didn't mean to infer otherwise..

      "Imply", not "infer"

      January 5th: 20th anniversary of the Grammar Nazi Party.

      --
      -=Maggie Leber=-
    34. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Incadenza · · Score: 1

      It was not until the end of 38 that Hitler started doing what he is known for today.

      By the end of 38 my great-grandfather had already spent over 5 years in a german prison.

    35. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by hackstraw · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes, clearly in 1938 the Nuremberg Laws, the forced sterilization of Gypsies and the handicapped, the re-armament of the Rhineland, the outright assassination of political opponen...

      That was normal then. Here in the US we had the Jim Crow laws that were revoked in 1964. In South Africa, there was apartheid that lasted until very recently. Also, the US government experimented on syphilis on black people for 40 years. If you know anything about syphilis, you can appreciate the injustice here.

      The Germans and the US were in a bad depression and would do anything to get out of it. The Germans took it out on non-Germans and started remaking the map of Europe. Its common for a group of people that are stressed to get tight and nationalistic and take out scapegoats. Look at the US during WWI, WWII, and after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks. Flags a waving, and a desire to go and kill the bad guy. The people in the US used conquering Japan and Germany to get out of their depression, just like Germans followed Hitler to get out of theirs. The US has never, and apparently will never have an "enemy". Look at pro "wrestling", they were first Nazi's, then Russians and Iranians, I guess now they are terrorists (don't watch it).

      He wasn't some fairytale poster boy who just randomly went bad; though I've never read it, I understand that the size of his ambition is evident in Mein Kampf, written long before 1938.

      I'll be sure to never mention his name again. Its just a bad thing. Mein Kamph was written during his 8 month jail sentence for the '23 attempt to take over Germany.

      No, he is no more of a fairytale poster boy than anybody. He was basically given permission to do what he wanted by millions of people.

      Humans by definition are created by other humans. All of them. The good and the bad. If any human is not in contact with others they don't walk upright, they do not and cannot learn to speak, they surely will not ever rule a country. Hitler is a black eye on almost everybody's face.

    36. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


                " at a guess the nazi party was created just after the second world war, but i have no clue, just using what figures were available. Don't see where you were going with these dates. The Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Ge rman_Workers_Party don't seem to give a definitive answer when the NAZI party was actually created and i think a date is purely arbitary any way."

      I think you meant 1918 is just after WWI not second.... The Nazi party could have been said to started WWII not formed after it was over...

    37. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1
      "And FWIW, Che was murdered by the Bolivian military."

      how can you murder a criminal fighting against you? lets forget how many people che personally killed.

      Sorry. That "murdered" should have been in quotation marks. Far as I'm concerned, it went too easy for the hypocritic bastard.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    38. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope you're being sarcastic and not mindnumbingly ignorant of history and the nature of communism in practice. They were "counter-revolutionaries", "spies" et c. THought criminaös.
      I.e. common people, civil servants, even former friends of Che and the other communist brutes who were suddenly considered dangerous/competitive.

    39. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by AoT · · Score: 1

      "Technically, he was elected. Though they did suppress political parties that they didn't like. Just like nationalist political parties have been broken up in several European countries in the past couple of years, because the politicans in power didn't like them. Perhaps it's a hard habit to break."

      That is technically true but the reality was a bit more complicated. Hitler was originally appointed, in january of 1933. The Nazi party was the largest party in parliament and they secured their standing in the march 1933 elections, essentially through violence.

      So, yeah, he was elected, or as elected as a leader in a parliamentary system ever is, but he was appointed first.

    40. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by huge+colin · · Score: 2, Informative

      You neglected to mention that the Nazi party also dragged a country out of economic ruin and to a world superpower. In the 1930s, German hyperinflation was so bad that 100-billion-Mark notes were being printed. Many people in the country at the time welcomed the change.

    41. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      No, German hyperinflation was (and ended) in 1923 (the year of Hitler's Beerhall Putsch), almost a decade before Hitler came to power. And before you bring that up - he didn't invent the Autobahn either.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    42. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      Not that it matters much (or has something to do with my post you answered to), but German Workers' Party. It was founded on January 5, 1919 [...] renamed to NSDAP.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    43. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by Lars+T. · · Score: 1
      That's how Hitler started, as a socialist.

      Well, Hitler saw himself as a socialist, while he thought that others didn't get what "Socialism" was all about.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    44. Re:Why are these people so attracted to the Nazis? by evilbessie · · Score: 1

      Thanks, i found that out reading some of the other posts. was clearly being stupid, then whats new

  7. Stewie holding a sexy party the same day by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Stewie Griffin announced a sexy party to be held the same day.

  8. Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by Golgafrinchan · · Score: 2, Insightful
    So it coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party. What does that have to do with anything?

    The linked article doesn't imply Sober has anything to do with Nazism. Was the Sober writer a Neo-Nazi? If so, it would've made much more sense to include this in the article or submitter's comments so the "Nazi anniversary" comment would mean something.

    You know what else happens on 5 January 2006? This guy turns 75. Maybe the Sober writer also hates The Godfather! Who knows?

    --
    My userid is prime!
    1. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by 68kmac · · Score: 2, Informative

      There have been previous incidents where machines that were infected by Sober variants (Sober.G and Sober.Q, it seems) have later begun churning out neonazi spam.

      So either the Sober author is indeed a neonazi or the neonazis rented the Sober-infected botnets.

    2. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by corellon13 · · Score: 1

      FTFA: "threat of 'hacktivism' "

      The article does say that Sober will spew out politically motivated email. One then can only assume that the politics they speak of are related to Nazism in some way. Or...it was a great way to grab readers attention and come up with a cool new 'ism.

      --
      Do what is right and let the consequence follow
    3. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by trcooper · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well, your thoughts are valid, the /. post and the linked article explain nothing about the Sober worm...

      If you go here you will find that the Sober worm directs people to neo-nazi websites, and sends emails with subjects like "Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously" and "60 Years of Freedom: Who's Celebrating?"

      Given just what /. had, I'd be more inclined to think that it coincided with Marilyn Manson's birthday. But the virus/worm is actually well known for spreading neo-nazi propaganda.

    4. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by P3NIS_CLEAVER · · Score: 0

      The pimply adolescent attention-whore that made the virus will get 3x as much press for his creation. I think many virus-writers are just trolls.

      --
      Please sign petition to restore sanity to our banking system!!!

      http://financialpetition.org/
    5. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by NtroP · · Score: 0, Redundant
      No, No.

      - It's celebrating the anniversary of Davy Crockett arriving in Texas, just in time for the Alamo (1836)
      - It's celebrating the anniversary of NASA announcing its plans for a new space vehicle, the shuttle (1972)
      - It's celebrating the birthday of Robert Duvall (1931)
      - It's celebrating the birthday of Dianne Keaton (1946)

      --
      "terrorism" and "pedophilia" are the root passwords to the Constitution
    6. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by GigG · · Score: 1

      You know what else happens on 5 January 2006? This guy turns 75. Maybe the Sober writer also hates The Godfather! Who knows?

      And that guy is only 3 steps from Hitler.
      It's all so clear now.

      --
      Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
    7. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      More events on that day (taken from http://www.scopesys.com/cgi-bin/today2.cgi):

      1896 German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen's discovers x-rays
      1945 Pepe LePew debuts in Warner Bros cartoon "Odor-able Kitty"
      1956 Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel"
      1961 US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
      1973 Netherlands recognizes German Democratic Republic
      1982 Arkansas judge rules against obligatory teaching of creation

      Amongst many other events one might like to celebrate/commemorate.

      --
      Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    8. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you will find that the Sober worm directs people to neo-nazi websites, and sends emails with subjects like "Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously"

      While I am opposed to neo-nazism, I don't think the Dresden bombing was morally justifiable. I don't see how "Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously" is a sign of "nazi" propoganda anymore than "Hiroshima and Nagasaki are to be regretted enormously" would be a sign of Japanese imperialist propoganda. If you think somehow such statements indicate a penchant for nazism, I'd say you're relatively close to becoming that which you ostensibly abhor.

    9. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by Florian+Weimer · · Score: 1

      So it coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party. What does that have to do with anything?

      Simple answer: The article is wrong. This wasn't the first Sober variant. Previous versions have been used to send out "Nazi spam" (actually, it was mainly xenophobia), so it's reasonable to assume that this isn't a coincidence.

      I don't understand why Verisign (the same company that offers bulletproof hosting for phishing sites, by the way) publicly documents how far their reverse engineering efforts have advanced. I thought we were out to catch those guys. Telling them what we know isn't a terribly good strategy.

    10. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by flatland_skier · · Score: 1

      To quote Mel Brooks... "Don't be stupid / Be a smarty / Come and join the Nazi party!"

    11. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dresden bombing is to be regretted enormeously. I fully stand behind that claim, Sir.

    12. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by enigma.obscura · · Score: 1

      If Sober hated The Godfather, he would plan the attack for, well, today. Vito Andolini Corleone -- aka The Godfather -- was born on December 7th. Robert Duvall's character is Tom Hagen, the adopted son and family consigliere (advisor). He was only briefly the Don (making him The Godfather) in Part II while Michael Corleone goes to Miama and Cuba.

      --
      "It's only after we've lost anything that we're free to do anything."
    13. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      The body of the mail probably contains the propaganda.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    14. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by elliotCarte · · Score: 1

      "I'm the root of all evil, but you can call me 'Cookie'"

      "I'm the root of all that's evil. Yeh, but you can call me 'Cookie'".
      -Bloodhound Gang, Fire Water Burn

      I'm just sayin'... I don't mind reading your sig and getting a song stuck in my head, but it's really annoying to have a song with missing words stuck in my head. You screw the rhythm all up if you leave words out. Ya know?
      -311;[]+

      --
      If you can't just be yourself, then be more like me, ok?
    15. Re:Anniversary of Nazi Party... So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Sober worm sends emails with subjects like "Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously"

      Couldn't agree more on that one. Also let's not forget Tokyo city which was also firebombed in 1945. One day the anglo-saxons will inevitably pay eye for eye, teeth for teeth for these atrocities. Twice 130k dead must be blood atoned. It may be sheik UBL or it may be somebody else, but revenge will happen one day. Remember the 1993 WTC bombing was aimed at avenging Hirosima by toppling the towers to kill 50k americans.

      You cannot escape eternal justice. America should apologize, pay mighty restitution and dig up the corpses of people from their graves of those who ordered, planned and executed these attacks and burn their bodies and disperse their ashes into the wind, so as to deny them a decent burial. This is the same thing that was done to executed nazi leaders and indeed there is no difference between Bergen-Belsen and Drezden. There can be absolutely no forgetting and no forgiving without an apology!

  9. Sober? by Alizarin+Erythrosin · · Score: 0

    I'll tell you when I've had enough!

    But seriously, I thought it was like, a terrorist attack or something that was "sobering".

    But also seriously, the article talks about "hacktivism" but is the correlation really there that this is about Nazis? There may be commands to spread on that date, but is there a chance that the author picked the date by coincidence? Are we reading too much into this?

    --
    There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
    1. Re:Sober? by andreyw · · Score: 1

      It wouldn't be sensational enough otherwise. /OT If you were going for a symbolic "Nazi anniversary" date, wouldn't you want to pick a...er rounder number anyhow? This is about as good as saying "OMGeee... in two months it will be such-and-such anniversary. Symbolic!" What a joke...

  10. Actually this is an ad for The Producers movie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sober pays a midi of "Springtime for Hitler" on said date. It also makes a jpeg of a naked Mel Brooks your desktop background.

  11. I've never been partial to birthdays by rodoke3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think a more appropriate date would be February 27. The date that led to the total 0wnage of Weimar Germany.

    --
    There's nothing like a good gunfight to uplift the spirit--Calvin
    1. Re:I've never been partial to birthdays by Krach42 · · Score: 1

      Why not pick a day http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/9._November that the Germans can't really pick for either holiday status, or day of infamy.

      9-11 (November 9th, not September 11th) hit a number of significant events in German history. The shooting of Robert Blum in Vienna (1848), the November Revolution (1918), the attempted coup by Hitler (1923), Kristallnacht (1938), and East Germany openning up the Berlin wall border (1989).

      I suppose though that a Neo-Nazi would have as much trouble choosing to remember the 9th of November as everyone else does. If you celebrate it as a holiday, you end up celebrating perhaps the most significant event in the reunification of Germany, but also you end up celebrating on the aniversary of Kristallnacht.

      Now, it's kind of recognized as a "Day of Destiny" in German history, and it's seen as a day for rememberance, but not a holiday, because they don't want any mistake taken of celebrating the day that Kristallnacht happened.

      --

      I am unamerican, and proud of it!
  12. Great... by Tiberius_Fel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now there's going to be all sorts of virus / worm stuff related to important dates, like July 4 or the founding of the USSR, or whatever. I thought the whole date-triggered thing went out of fashion with the Michelangelo virus.

    --
    Join the Empire! http://www.empirereborn.net/
    1. Re:Great... by Red+Flayer · · Score: 3, Funny

      " I thought the whole date-triggered thing went out of fashion with the Michelangelo virus."

      I still have an old 486 with the Michelangelo virus embedded in the partition table. It still has this message written in wite-out on the casing:

      "WARNING: DO NOT USE ON MARCH 6"

      I might have to boot that sucker up this weekend and see what's on it.

      --
      "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    2. Re:Great... by meringuoid · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Now there's going to be all sorts of virus / worm stuff related to important dates, like July 4 or the founding of the USSR, or whatever. I thought the whole date-triggered thing went out of fashion with the Michelangelo virus.

      Your post rang bells in a dark recess of my mind labelled 'Elder Virus Lore', and I had to check with Google.

      January 5th is Joshi's birthday.

      Never mind the Nazi stuff, I think the Sober guys are just paying tribute to a viral classic :)

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
  13. Coincides has the same root as Coincidence by killtherat · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Are we sure that they writer of this worm was a neo-nazi? Because otherwise, it is probably a coincidence. I mean, if you look at the whole of human history, every day could probably be the anniversary of some terrible tragedy. We could end up saying things like "Oh no, this worm attack date coincides with the 193rd anniversary of the start of the war of 1812"

    1. Re:Coincides has the same root as Coincidence by httptech · · Score: 2, Informative

      Given his use of the worm to spread neo-nazi-type propaganda in the past, it's likely that he is indeed a neo-nazi or sympathetic to the cause. However, one thing I've determined from my analysis of the worm is that the download date isn't scheduled to occur until Friday, January 6. The logic in the code is actually "check if date > Jan 5", not "check if date == Jan 5". So then there might not even be a correlation OR a coincidence.

      -Joe

      Joe Stewart, GCIH
      Senior Security Researcher
      LURHQ http://www.lurhq.com/

    2. Re:Coincides has the same root as Coincidence by killtherat · · Score: 1

      Given his use of the worm to spread neo-nazi-type propaganda in the past

      I don't have a Windows desktop, so I tend to ignore these news items. Is there a long history with this virus writer/group?

    3. Re:Coincides has the same root as Coincidence by httptech · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, to further the theory of coinciding dates, now that I look at my notes, the logic in the worm is more specifically "start spreading after 68 days after October 29". October 29 is the birth date of Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda.

      -Joe

      Joe Stewart, GCIH
      Senior Security Researcher
      LURHQ http://www.lurhq.com/

    4. Re:Coincides has the same root as Coincidence by lightspawn · · Score: 0, Redundant

      now that I look at my notes, the logic in the worm is more specifically "start spreading after 68 days after October 29". October 29 is the birth date of Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda.

      And Winona Ryder's.

    5. Re:Coincides has the same root as Coincidence by httptech · · Score: 1

      Is there a long history with this virus writer/group?

      Two years now and no end in sight.

      -Joe

      --
      Joe Stewart, GCIH
      Senior Security Researcher
      LURHQ http://www.lurhq.com/

  14. Je, personnellement... by Stormwatch · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...accueillir nos nouveaux suzerains nazis.

    1. Re:Je, personnellement... by Chaffar · · Score: 1
      Didn't you mean:

      I, für eins, begrüßen unsere Nazi überlords ?

    2. Re:Je, personnellement... by saforrest · · Score: 1

      ...accueillir nos nouveaux suzerains nazis.

      Mais, je pense que une capitulation propre devrait être fait en allemand. (Je me demande également combien de ceux qui se sont amusés par ton commentaire devraient le traduire avec Babelfish.)

    3. Re:Je, personnellement... by JourneyExpertApe · · Score: 1

      What exactly does I mean in German?

      --
      If you can read this sig, you're too close.
    4. Re:Je, personnellement... by J_Darnley · · Score: 0

      I, für eins, begrüßen unsere Nazi überlords ? I? Ich! Ich, für eins, begrüßen unsere Nazi überlords!

    5. Re:Je, personnellement... by Chaffar · · Score: 1
      What exactly does I mean in German?

      Ask Babelfish . Or, since you seem so fluent in the language:

      Ich gebe nicht zwei Scheiße, ob der vorhergehende oder gegenwärtige Satz auf Deutsch grammatisch korrekt ist.
      :)
    6. Re:Je, personnellement... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Souverains, you fucking bitch.

    7. Re:Je, personnellement... by saforrest · · Score: 1

      How interesting, that my never-rated comment was overrated. Peut-être il y a un sentiment contre la langue française au Slashdot? Quelle surprise.

    8. Re:Je, personnellement... by 808140 · · Score: 1

      If you're going to be pendantic, it ought to be Ich begrüße (note the lack of ending n). But then everyone in this thread is just having fun with babelfish anyway.

  15. I have one of those books too... by PoderOmega · · Score: 1

    I have a book that lists all the "significant" events that happened on the same day as my birthday. Next virus that does something on May 4th, I'll have a something for the slashdot editors!

    1. Re:I have one of those books too... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      May the fourth? That'd have to be the 'Star Wars' virus....

      Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooo

      *gets coat*

  16. Or perhaps... by Billosaur · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...it might be related to one of these anniversaries. I'm pulling for: 1900 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.

    --
    GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
    1. Re:Or perhaps... by jumpingfred · · Score: 1

      I notice that the list did not have the formation of the nazi party on it.

    2. Re:Or perhaps... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I notice that the list did not have the formation of the nazi party on it.

      If by "did not have" you actually meant "does have", then you're exactly right! Check what happened in 1918.

  17. Also: My birthday! by Karth · · Score: 0

    wait.. darn. That's kinda depressing, actually.

  18. I concur by madaxe42 · · Score: 1, Funny

    I agree - the Nazis had the best dress sense of any governmental organisation *ever* - some seriously good look! Bit of a shame that they developed into a bunch of xenophobic genocidal maniacs.

    1. Re:I concur by neo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      From strictly a design point of view, the Nazis were amazing. Everything the put out was sharp, crisp and direct marketing of one ideal. Iconically the nazi flag was an amazingly clean design (compare to America's flag that looks like it was made by committee... oh wait, it was.)

    2. Re:I concur by operagost · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Are you suggesting that the American flag is a bad design? Because it has been copied by about 20 countries.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    3. Re:I concur by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >> Are you suggesting that the American flag is a bad design? Because it has been copied by about 20 countries.

      Oh really! Countries such as?...

    4. Re:I concur by neo · · Score: 1

      Are you suggesting that the American flag is a bad design? Because it has been copied by about 20 countries.

      Yes. I am. It's freaking ugly. Do any research on heraldry and you'll see some beautiful flags with very nice designs. The US flag is sadly not one of them.

      And just because someone copies you, doesn't mean you have a good idea. If that's your proof then you're on shakey ground.

    5. Re:I concur by original_nickname · · Score: 1

      > Are you suggesting that the American flag is a bad design? Because it has been copied by about 20 countries. what like: Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iraq??

    6. Re:I concur by drsquare · · Score: 1

      It's one of the uglier and more convoluted flags. When you see it from a distance it looks pink. There are just too many stars and stripes, it's like a barber's pole.

      There are only a few flags with a similar design, one of them being Liberia's which looks just as bad.

  19. Will it chat over AIM? by Alsier · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    But will it chat over AIM? 'lol no this is not a Nazi'

  20. Someone had to do it by Sheepdot · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    lol thats cool

    lol no its not a nazi spam

  21. Just in case....... by crazypip666 · · Score: 0

    ........ you missed it in the article summary, Jan. 5, 2006 is the 87th anniversary of the nazi party.

    1. Re:Just in case....... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I know that, but what kind of gift is appropriate for the 87th anniversary? All the references I found only go up to the 60th anniversary, so I have no idea what to get the Nazis this year. :(

  22. Dangit by KrancHammer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Guess this was a bad time to try out my new Little Frenchie Anti-Virus Software.

    --
    Trolls: The high-tech version of those morons that scrawl obscenities in public bathrooms.
    1. Re:Dangit by DaFallus · · Score: 2, Funny

      Did you also write a program called Maginot Firewall?

      --
      No one cares what your captcha was

      Houston TX, USA
    2. Re:Dangit by KrancHammer · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, that and Little Frenchie is part of my Vichy Suite of software. It was pretty easy to write. If it detects a virus or intrusion, it just recommends reformatting. That's about it.

      --
      Trolls: The high-tech version of those morons that scrawl obscenities in public bathrooms.
    3. Re:Dangit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow.. 50% overated... Pierre shouldn't moderate when he's in bad mood.

    4. Re:Dangit by sharkey · · Score: 1
      If it detects a virus or intrusion, it just recommends reformatting.

      It sports the "Designed for Windows XP" sticker on the box, I take it?

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  23. And the announcement coincides with... by Gadgetfreak · · Score: 2, Funny

    the 64th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Habor.

    OMFG... conspiracy! There must be a connection somewhere.

    Just let me think of it, and I'll get back to you...

    --
    "No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
    1. Re:And the announcement coincides with... by Widowwolf · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I cant tell if you are being ignorant or just plain idiotic

      --
      ~~"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong." ~~Dennis Miller
    2. Re:And the announcement coincides with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the previous poster meant to say is "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor"?

    3. Re:And the announcement coincides with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wasnt pearl harbour on December?

  24. Summary Unclear by ShortSpecialBus · · Score: 1

    I understand that the worm will start on January 5th, but you'd think they could at least give you a reason why they picked January 5th!

    --
    //FIXME: Bad .sig
    1. Re:Summary Unclear by scovetta · · Score: 1

      I think it was because January 5th is the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party. Also, it was the Nazi party's 87th anniversary.

      In summary, January 5th, 2006 is the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party.

      --
      Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
    2. Re:Summary Unclear by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wasn't 5th January 06 also a planned release date for Windows Vista?

    3. Re:Summary Unclear by ShortSpecialBus · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      If it was that simple, you'd think they could have said it at least once in the summary.

      Lazy friggen editors!

      --
      //FIXME: Bad .sig
  25. This story is null and void. by IainMH · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I call Godwin!

  26. You better be Sober by PromptZero · · Score: 3, Informative

    The grave insecurity of the day is the Sober worm which is currently pushing nearly 25% of all email traffic at the moment. Unlike previous worms, Sober can disable the Windows Firewall and Symantec Antivirus. Interestingly, patched machines are not vulnerable to the exploits used by this worm.

    1. Re:You better be Sober by Viper+Daimao · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dont worry, I have the perfect defense for the Sober Attack.

      --
      "In the game of life, someone always has to lose. To me, if life were fair, that someone would always be Oklahoma." -DKR
    2. Re:You better be Sober by Xarius · · Score: 1

      Interestingly, patched machines are not vulnerable to the exploits used by this worm.

      What's interesting about that? Isn't that the entire point of being patched? To not be exploited...

      isn't it?!

      --
      C17H21NO4
  27. No mention of the Operating System??? by Burz · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Editors, please add the relevant info. Many of us do not use Windows and end up wasting time checking a virus' background every time a vague alert is posted on Slashdot.


    Again... please specify the OS!

    1. Re:No mention of the Operating System??? by ummit · · Score: 0

      You're joking, right? It's always Windows.

    2. Re:No mention of the Operating System??? by Burz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You're joking, right? It's always Windows.

      I'm not joking.

      First, there is one virus announcement for Linux that I recall this past year.

      Second, Microsoft should never escape having their product explicitly associated with the malware it hosts.

      Third, the rest of the IT industry does not deserve the wide-ranging implication that this is a "computer virus". This is a Windows virus.

    3. Re:No mention of the Operating System??? by Short+Circuit · · Score: 1
      If you want virus warnings, read CERT, not Slashdot. CERT is all about computer security. Slashdot is not.

      Also, most people who read Slashdot already know what Sober is. Slashdot targets those who are already moderately informed in the subject matter. I'd quickly tired if every mention of a virus in a Slashdot story looked like this:

      "Microsoft claims the latest version of Windows is much more resistant to viruses, which are tiny pieces of code which copy themselves from computer to computer and can result in data loss and security violations."

    4. Re:No mention of the Operating System??? by ummit · · Score: 1
      Microsoft should never escape having their product explicitly associated with the malware it hosts.
      The rest of the IT industry does not deserve the wide-ranging implication that this is a "computer virus". This is a Windows virus.

      Excellent points.

  28. No kidding by paranode · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I mean, lots of stuff happened on January 5th.

    They could be celebrating the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit! Or the first PC by Hewlett Packard! Maybe the birth of Marilyn Manson! Lots of possibilities... or maybe, just maybe... it has no meaning.

    1. Re:No kidding by Bimo_Dude · · Score: 0, Redundant
      FTWA:
      1961 - Television: Mr. Ed debuts.

      THAT is the real anniversary that is "celebrated" by being sober. Of Course.

      --
      "Teleporting Rodents with D-Cell Battery Displacement" theory -- IgnoramusMaximus (692000)
    2. Re:No kidding by intangible · · Score: 0, Redundant

      "Jan 5, 1984 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU."

      It all makes sense now... Actually, no it doesn't.

    3. Re:No kidding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Lots of possibilities... or maybe, just maybe... it has no meaning.

      Or maybe, just maybe, for a worm used to send nazi spam it has.

    4. Re:No kidding by HardCase · · Score: 0

      Good lord, nobody realized that it's Mungday???

    5. Re:No kidding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      There's a 0.274% chance that any event in history happened on the 5th January. I guess the media doesn't get this, nor the fact that no-one celebrates the 87th anniversary of anything. If anything, it says more about the importance of this specific event to the reporter than anything else... my guess is it's just some coder's birthday or somesuch.

    6. Re:No kidding by muszek · · Score: 1

      There's a 0.274% chance that any event in history happened on the 5th January

      Unless you take into consideration the fact that most people don't want to go outside when it's so freaking cold. Certainly, everything I did that was mentioned in history books was made during either spring or summer.

      P.S. Deep apologies to people in Australia for leaving the out of the picture.

    7. Re:No kidding by modecx · · Score: 1

      Totally... The only time I've ever seen a horse talk was when I was intoxicated... They're obviously telling everyone to sober up? Yeah, that must be it.

      --
      Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
    8. Re:No kidding by kalirion · · Score: 1

      1919 - Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace founded, which would become the Nazi party.

      Obviously the Sober people simply care about the right of the German working class to live their lives in peace.

    9. Re:No kidding by wayward · · Score: 1

      What a great way for the Nazis to improve their public image! Maybe the Nazi Olsen twins can put out a song about it.

    10. Re:No kidding by zoefff · · Score: 1

      Scanning through the list I noticed that Richard Stallman started coding for GNU in 1984. I mean 1984.... the sober worm is going to finish what he started! Or the book, remember the book. It MUST have a meaning... somewhere

      Other link of what happened, like the dreyfus affair, to remain on topic.

  29. He forgot to say by jlebrech · · Score: 1

    That its the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party. Three times for emphasis.

  30. an cached version of the page by yjs · · Score: 1
  31. Widespread is an adjective! by digitaldc · · Score: 2, Informative

    "The next planned widespread of 2005's most prolific e-mail worm, Sober, is scheduled to start on January 5, 2006 based on commands hard-coded within the worm."

    See: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/widespread
    Main Entry: widespread
    Pronunciation: 'wId-'spred
    Function: adjective
    1 : widely diffused or prevalent - ex: "widespread public interest"
    2 : widely extended or spread out - ex: "low, widespread hood and fenders"br>

    The Grammar Nazis never miss a chance at spoiling an event.

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
    1. Re:Widespread is an adjective! by ch-chuck · · Score: 1

      almost sounds like a variation of 'broadcast'

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
  32. MOD SUMMARY REDUNDANT by ndansmith · · Score: 0
    Jack writes "ITO is reporting that Sober is scheduled to attack on January 2006 - the data coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party: "The next planned widespread of 2005's most prolific e-mail worm, Sober, is scheduled to start on January 5, 2006 based on commands hard-coded within the worm. The attack date coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party.""

    Wait, could you run that by me one more time, please?

    1. Re:MOD SUMMARY REDUNDANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, horrible article summary, and the stuff about Nazi parties shouldn't even be there IMHO, at least if it's just by coincidence... As others have said, a lot of things has happened on that date.

  33. do the math... by DenDave · · Score: 1

    LOL!!! 5=E(rror)???

    perhaps next year when it's the 88th anniversary eh?

    --
    -if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
    1. Re:do the math... by nihaopaul · · Score: 1

      well if it was the 88th anniversary we could look towards the chinese for creating it... in china the number 8 is the most luckiest and 4 being death, the number 88 is a common term for *bye*bye* (ba shi ba) so 88 would be "we're lucky, so good bye"

    2. Re:do the math... by ncc74656 · · Score: 1
      well if it was the 88th anniversary we could look towards the chinese for creating it...

      Among neo-Nazis, "88" is a codeword for "Heil Hitler" (H is the 8th letter in the alphabet).

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
    3. Re:do the math... by MaggieL · · Score: 2, Informative

      Among neo-Nazis, "88" is a codeword for "Heil Hitler"

      Among radio amateurs, "88" is a code word for "love and kisses". In communications, context is everything.

      --
      -=Maggie Leber=-
    4. Re:do the math... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      In communications, context is everything.

      Heh. The quote at the bottom of the page when I read your post was ""The medium is the message." -- Marshall McLuhan"
      And in a thread loaded with talking about coincidences to boot! Cool.
  34. 87th Anniversary Connection by corellon13 · · Score: 5, Informative

    For all of you posting all the other events that happend on Jan. 5th, please RTFA: "The company says the attack could have a significant damaging effect on internet traffic, as the worm designed to send politically motivated spam from tens of millions of e-mail addresses. The next phase of the multi-phased Sober worm has been discovered by iDefense using reverse-engineering techniques in the most recent version of the worm." The article coins another brilliant 'ism: hacktivism before going on to the above article. The connection to the Nazi anniversary was not just pulled out of thin air. So, please close the wikopedia page and put up your Farmer's Almanac and step away from the keyboard. Thank you.

    --
    Do what is right and let the consequence follow
    1. Re:87th Anniversary Connection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The word 'hacktivism' was definitely not coined in that article, it's been popular since at least the late 90's.

  35. Cyber Terrorism by ph4cr · · Score: 1

    What a crock!I've ben a Security Manager long before security was a vogue job and long before kooks in caves were blowing up our buildings. Point - I have yet to see a single bonafide case of cyber terrorism. And don't say web site defacement. the effort involved wouldn't be worth the effort and the systems in the public domain (utilities) have a lot of safeguards that would make it unlikely for an intruder (even one not currently running around with explosives strapped to himself)to directly control said systems. It's Republican media hype designed to bolster an unwinnable war against an opponent not restricted to specific boundries. Go home!

    1. Re:Cyber Terrorism by Buelldozer · · Score: 1

      Where do you get that this is a "Republican Media Hype" event? The last Democrat President talked about it as well.

      It may well be a Media Event, but it's not limited to a political party, do try and keep your facts straight.

  36. They have this all wrong, by mobiux · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's actually the 528th anniversary of the Battle of Nancy when Burgundy became part of France.

    Sober was written by Burgundish insurgents...

    1. Re:They have this all wrong, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't they be Burgandois?

    2. Re:They have this all wrong, by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 1

      The French won that one?

      --
      Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
    3. Re:They have this all wrong, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Burgandois? Burgandians? Burgandonians? Burgandese? Burgandentsia? Burgand... who cares.

  37. GNU founded on 5th January by koshi · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Don't know if it is really all about Nazi Party.

    It's also the 22 anniversary of Richard Stallman founding the GNU project. Is that more likly for the virus writers (well no but...)

    --
    callum
  38. Re:Wrong historical event by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 1
    Or the 152nd anniversary of the sinking of the San Francisco Steamer? (any relation to the Cleveland Steamer?)

    /looks up "Cleveland Steamer" in Roger's Profanisaurus

    You, sir, are one sick, sick, puppy.

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
  39. because people are lazy by option8 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...and can't check wikipedia themselves:

    1463 - Poet François Villon is banned from Paris.
    1477 - Battle of Nancy, Charles the Bold killed, Burgundy becomes part of France.
    1500 - Duke Ludovico Sforza conquers Milan.
    1527 - Martyrdom of Felix Manz, a Swiss Anabaptist.
    1554 - Great fire in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
    1675 - Battle of Colmar, French army beats Brandenburg.
    1757 - Louis XV of France survives the assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France with the traditional and gruesome form of death penalty used for regicides.
    1759 - George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis.
    1781 - American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
    1846 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.
    1854 - The San Francisco steamer sinks, 300 dead.
    1895 - Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
    1896 - An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.
    1900 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.
    1909 - Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
    1912 - Prague Party Conference
    1914 - Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.
    1918 - Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace founded, which would become the Nazi party.
    1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor in the United States.
    1933 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
    1940 - FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time.
    1944 - The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.
    1945 - The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.
    1948 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl).
    1956 - Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel."
    1957 - Major league baseballer Jackie Robinson retires.
    1961 - Television: Mr. Ed debuts.
    1964 - Pope Paul VI meets the Greek patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem, the first meeting of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity leaders since 1439.
    1968 - Alexander Dub?ek comes to power, "Prague Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia.
    1970 - Soap opera: All My Children premieres.
    1972 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.
    1973 - Netherlands recognizes East Germany.
    1974 - An earthquake in Lima, Peru kills six, and damages 100s of houses.
    1975 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
    1976 - Cambodia is renamed Democratic Campuchea.
    1980 - Hewlett-Packard announces release of its first personal computer.
    1984 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU.
    1987 - President of the United States Ronald Reagan undergoes prostate surgery causing worries about his health.
    1993 - The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands spilling 84,700 tonnes of oil.
    1993 - Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the first legal hanging in America since 1965).
    1996 - Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone.
    1997 - Withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya.
    2000 - The 1st day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit.
    2002 - Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.
    2006 - Expected activation of Sober worm

    1. Re:because people are lazy by Superfreaker · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Or because you're a Karma whore and did not RTFA or know anything about the Sober worm and that it spams using nazi-propaganda web sites? At least post AC.

    2. Re:because people are lazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't that make it the 88th anniversary?

    3. Re:because people are lazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't that make it the 88th anniversary?

      No, because anniversaries kind of start at zero (that is, the day something happens is the 0th anniversary, the next year it's the 1st anniversary, etc.). It's a weird way to look at it, but it explains why you don't just subtract the year of the event from the current year.

      However, it will be 88 years since the founding of the Nazi party, which could be significant to neo-Nazis since "88" is one of their shorthand signals -- "H" is the eighth letter of the alphabet, so "88" = "HH" = "Hiel Hitler".

      That's what I've read, at least. Please someone else come and tell me this is just an urban myth. Please.

    4. Re:because people are lazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe because people are busy, and have jobs to do.

    5. Re:because people are lazy by option8 · · Score: 1

      ... or that i knew about fifty gazillion people would post something silly like "golly. it's lucille ball's nephew's dog's birthday, too. conspiracy!?"

      and yes. i'm a karma whore. all the better to be a frequent moderator.

  40. Pure Random, how pure is pure ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My chatting virus tells me it was pure random.

    I just downloaded the evidence by MSN.

    1. Re:Pure Random, how pure is pure ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be yoking, right ?

      My pure is more pure than others pure

      You know what i mean

    2. Re:Pure Random, how pure is pure ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      pure is the wrong word

      There is no pure random.

      The proposition non-evidently is an aspect of higher philosophy.

  41. 87th Anniversary of the Nazi Party? by stock · · Score: 1

    What is slashdot doing these days? which crackpot feeded that Nazi pointer into this title? Let me put it this way, if i ever see a nazi flag displayed here, slashdot will be going down, without a possible recovery.

    1. Re:87th Anniversary of the Nazi Party? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Whew, I'm glad we have people around here like you to protect us from Ze Germans.

    2. Re:87th Anniversary of the Nazi Party? by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 1

      You can practice here: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb%7Dnaz.html

      Seriously, do you take yourself serious? The nazi ideology is death. It has been death since 1945. Those people who're still calling themselves nazies are just morons. They could be part of a modern day group of mass murderers (plenty of these still availabe in many parts of the world) instead they waste their time with ideology-necrophilia.

  42. S U B J E C T DamnIT! by turtleAJ · · Score: 1

    The attack date coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party. Or... it could be one day before the Three Kings Day. ?..? ---------- Cat got your tongue? (something important seems to be missing from your comment ... like the body or the subject!) -- WTF /. ?!?!

  43. The all - important number 87 by elgatozorbas · · Score: 1

    WTF dude? This way ANY date can be ANY arbitrary birthday of whatever organization.
    The Nazis?
    The Commies
    The fascists
    The KKK
    ...

    1. Re:The all - important number 87 by nihaopaul · · Score: 1

      i agree we've all missed the main point of the story, its not really about nazi's its really about the authors work was reverse engineered to discover the date, now isn't that against the DMCA? if not i have a viable reason to reverse engineer software, i'll just call it a virus

    2. Re:The all - important number 87 by StalinsNotDead · · Score: 1

      So you're planning on reverse engineering Windows then?

      --
      Thanks to the internet, we can now all die alone together! -SomeWoman
    3. Re:The all - important number 87 by nihaopaul · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      i have no plans to reverse engineer anything, especially not windows when i can bearly understand why i can't download the internet onto this cd, i've seen people write they can put it onto a floopy disk!

  44. Sober making the rounds here for a while by dema · · Score: 2, Interesting

    For about the past month my mail server virus scanner has been getting a large number of hits from Sober, pretty much entirely from Hotmail. It's not an incredibly busy mail server, but the amount of Sober vs other viruses is hard to miss.

    Some stats from the past week:

    11/28 - 57 hits (2.7% of received emails)
    11/29 - 81 hits (3.6%)
    11/30 - 64 hits (2.9%)
    12/01 - 128 hits (2.2%)
    12/02 - 72 hits (3.6%)

    It seemed to take a break over Thanksgiving, there were zero hits between 11/23 and 11/28, which is the longest span since I first started seeing a lot of them.

  45. What of the potential effect? by Phishcast · · Score: 1

    The vast majority of the comments up until now have been pointing out other things that happened on this date. It could be because it's the anniversary of this or that, blah blah blah. I was hoping for a technical discussion of the possible impact of this virus coming to life. Are we looking at another Melissa or ILoveYou scenario or another non-event? Anyone have any insight?

  46. What it will do by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 2, Funny

    The first thing it does is that it tries to take over a beer hall in Munich.

    --
    It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
  47. January 5th by multipartmixed · · Score: 1

    Not only is it the anniversary of the Nazi party; it's also the date in 1984 that RMS started developing GNU.

    Now that's a sobering thought.

    --

    Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
  48. Not the most obvious anniversary by LordByronStyrofoam · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    More significantly, it's the 50th anniversary of Elvis's recording of "Heartbreak Hotel".

    --
    Slashdot's name? When my compiler sees /. it generates a warning about a badly formed comment.
  49. 5 January Conspiracy by Elektroschock · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Jack writes "ITO is reporting that Sober is scheduled to attack on January 2006 - the data coincides with > the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party

    5 january Nazi party? hmm. It is much worse.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Bono
    Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (February 16, 1935 - January 5, 1998) was an American record producer, singer, actor and politician whose career spanned over three decades. ... He died of injuries from hitting a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California, at the age of 62. (The accident came just days after Michael Kennedy died in a skiing accident on December 31, 1997, in Colorado.)

    "ITL is reporting that Sober is scheduled to attack on January 2006 - the data coincides with the death of Sonny Bono: "The next planned widespread of 2005's most prolific e-mail worm, Sober, is scheduled to start on January 5, 2006 based on commands hard-coded within the worm. The attack date coincides with the death of Sonny Bono who died of injuries from hitting a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe.""

    But is even worse:

    Jan 5, 2002 - Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.

    Jan 5, 2000 - The 1st day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit.

    Jan 5, 1895 - Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

    Jan 5, 1984 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU.

    So, "ITNO is reporting that Sober is scheduled to attack on January 2006 - the data coincides with the start of developing GNU and the Dreyfus Affair: "The next planned widespread of 2005's most prolific e-mail worm, Sober, is scheduled to start on January 5, 2006 based on commands hard-coded within the worm. The attack date coincides with the death of Sonny Bono, the start of Richard Stallman's GNU project, Alfred Dreyfus' imprisonment and the 1st day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit."

    Now, in order to understand internet security you need to realize that everything is controlled by the GNU project made up of Free software supporters with help from the nazis. The conspiracy first started during 5th Jan in Devil's Island. They have been responsible for many events throughout history, including the death of Sonny Bono. Today, members of the conspiracy are everywhere. They can be identified by posting articles. They want to imprison Dreyfus and copycat 9/11 using email worm Sober. In order to prepare for this, we all must listen to the hidden news. Since the media is controlled by Richard Stallman we should get our information from slashdot.

    1. Re:5 January Conspiracy by Elektroschock · · Score: 1

      > All your GNU are belong to us!
      Sure. Sober will break into computer systems but will not attack GNU systems. Now you can guess who is behind. What coincidence!

      Please also not the similarity to Exodus 7, see http://www.bartleby.com/108/02/7.html

      Please keep in mind that Moses was depicted by Michelangelo with a Horn, just like some images of Richard as found on the net. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MichaelangeloMo ses20020315.jpg and watch the GNU symbol below.

      And another question is unresolved: why do the Nazis need GNU and why did Richard start on their party Anniversary? I don't know but RMS did not comment until now to his links to the nazi party which was discovered today thanks to Slashdot.

      Most Nazis were from Germany and most Sober variants are from Germany. q.e.d.

      Richard Stallman also once went to Germany. Why?

  50. The 87th? by Silon · · Score: 1

    Apparently 2006 minus 1918 now equals 87. Thank you for the update, IT Observer.

  51. For the curious by stuckinarut · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    1757 - Louis XV of France survives the assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France with the traditional and gruesome form of death penalty used for regicides.

    In France, the traditional punishment for regicide or attempted regicide under the ancien régime is often described as "quartering", though it in fact has little to do with the English punishment. The process was as follows: the regicide would be first tortured with red-hot pincers, then the hand with which the crime was committed would be burnt with sulphur and molten lead and wax and boiling oil poured into the wounds. The quartering would be accomplished by the attachment of the victim's limbs to horses, who would then tear them away from the body. Finally, the often still-living torso would be burnt.
  52. Good Grief, Charlie Brown by sheldon · · Score: 1

    Next thing we'll be hearing about how this Sober virus Hates Christmas because it says Happy Holidays.

    And it hates the soldiers, because it's not properly saying good things about the war in Iraq.

    And it was written by sodomites, because it attacks gay computers as well...

    Oh whatever. Maybe those conspiracy guys were right and putting flouride in our drinking water is making us stupid.

  53. Quit giving them cool names! by birge · · Score: 1
    I've always suspected that the people who fight virii were actually quite enjoying themselves and happy to have the business. This is pretty clear in the fact that they always give virii cool sounding names.

    Quit doing that! It just glorifies the writers of these things. It's pretty cool sounding to be the guy that wrote Doom or Sasser or Sober. But maybe there'd be a small drop in virus writing if we named them things like 2005 Virus #345. You say that's hard to remember and they will all sound the same? That's the damn point. It will take the fame aspect away. The only real reason for naming them is technical, so give them boring technical names that nobody can remember and much of the notoriety from writing a successful virus will vanish.

    1. Re:Quit giving them cool names! by arabagast · · Score: 1

      I would believe this also made it a bit more difficult/confusing to the people having to discuss these viruses among themselves, ie. the AV companies. It's just like windows patches, It's a bit hard remembering the characteristics of a string of "random" digits.

      --
      Doolittle : ...What is your one purpose in life?
      Bomb no.20 : To explode of course.
    2. Re:Quit giving them cool names! by birge · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure it would be difficult so much as far less fun. Let's be honest, the dorks who do AV fancy themselves some sort of paramilitary guys, with their "ThreatCons" and situation rooms. It's a bit childish and poserish, but worse of all, it glamorizes the whole business. Really, writing viruses should be seen for what it is: a pasttime of pasty white kids living in their parent's basement. Let's lose the grand-scale pseudo-military fantasy. I'm certain nobody will take my advice, or even notice it, but I'm quite confident virus writing would decrease if we would tone done the rhetoric around it and give viruses the banal, mundane names they deserve.

  54. New poll by saskboy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    There ought to be a new Slashdot Poll:
    Who enjoys article summaries that make no sense and have obvious errors?
    -Me
    -Not Me
    -CowboyNeal

    --
    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
  55. A little math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is of almost no consequence whatsoever, but has it escaped everybody's notice that this will actually be the 88th anniversary, not the 87th? 2006 - 1918 = 88

  56. socialists? by minus_273 · · Score: 1

    Who knew the writers of sober were national socialists..

    --
    The war with islam is a war on the beast
    The war on terror is a war for peace
  57. For the birds by Jodka · · Score: 0, Redundant

    January 5 was chosen becuase it is National Bird Day. What better day to engage in fowl play?

    ha ha... ha... (ducks)...

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature.
    1. Re:For the birds by atomic_toaster · · Score: 1

      Well, all the people whose mail servers have been getting overwhelmed by Sober hits are already having a bird.

      Aw, forget it, I just can't seem to make this pun fly.

  58. kids today... by imsabbel · · Score: 2, Informative

    one hint: READ the corresponding article (the man of the year one).
    Its available online.
    Just read it, and see why the GP is a load of crap.

    --
    HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    1. Re:kids today... by huge+colin · · Score: 1

      Um, yeah. I read it before I posted.

  59. pre-emptive strike by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What if someone publishes the neo-nazi URLs and we spend the rest of the month burning them to the ground. I'll bet everyone reading this can set up cron jobs to GET the pages once an hour. WIth enough traffic the groups will either lose their website or have to start paying much more to their hosting site to handle the increased traffic.

  60. Seems like reverse psycology to me by JourneyExpertApe · · Score: 1

    You receive spam and/or your computer is infected with a virus, and you're supposed to join their cause? This seems inherently counterproductive. Could this virus have been written by an anti-neo-nazi (or neo-anti-nazi)?

    --
    If you can read this sig, you're too close.
    1. Re:Seems like reverse psycology to me by Senzei · · Score: 1
      You receive spam and/or your computer is infected with a virus, and you're supposed to join their cause? This seems inherently counterproductive. Could this virus have been written by an anti-neo-nazi (or neo-anti-nazi)?

      Maybe they are looking for some kind of 'can't-get-to-my-porn' stockholm syndrome.

      --
      Slashdot: Where anecdotes and generalizations can be freely substituted for facts, logic, or intelligence
  61. Email virus by StormReaver · · Score: 1

    "The next planned widespread of 2005's most prolific e-mail worm, Sober...."

    This is not an email virus. This is a Microsoft Windows virus. Actually, it's a Microsoft Outlook virus, but nowadays Microsoft ties everything together so tightly that it doesn't matter.

    Anyone system not using any Microsoft software, such as systems running Linux and/or *BSD, is completely immune to this (and all the others).

    I regularly view all these emails (I use Linux) for no good reason, other than for the fact that I can.

    1. Re:Email virus by finse · · Score: 1
      it's a Microsoft Outlook virus

      I agree with the statment this is a Windows virus. However, I fail to see how it is limited to Outlook. A Windows user could easly become infected with this malware using Eudora, Outlook Express, or any other 3rd party mail client.

      --
      Paranoid tinfoil hat crowd say Y here, everyone else say N.
  62. Pathetic moderation for this topic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone at all planning to start modding the "why is it a coincidence" comments as redundant/overrated? Anyone? Obviously, don't reply to this if you are, but still, the point stands.

    For fuck's sake, there's at least a half dozen of them all modded insightful, proving yet again that people don't mod to "pick out the good stuff", but to reward points they agree with.

    To make this even worse, we've seen numerous replies explaining the link, and you dumbasses continue to mod up the clueless morons.

    1. Re:Pathetic moderation for this topic by chawly · · Score: 1

      Can only speak for myself, of course, but I've used the mod points I've been given today - except for one. I used them on the comments attached to articles I found more interesting than the Sober Worm. In my opinion you need help. If you post AC how can you expect mod-points? If you don't get mod points, how can you surprise us all with your brilliant level of discernment ? You, sir, are certainly not a dumbass, nor yet a clueless moron: those are accusations that you level at us. You, sir, as your post says, are an Anonymous Coward. As such, your vulgarity, as your criticism of our efforts, has all the value of an Elephant Fart in the East Africa. But you do have the right to your opinion - though I can think of no good reason why you should.

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  63. Was it a coincidence? by planetoid · · Score: 1

    Was it really a coincidence? In any other case I would have cited the old game they teach in Statistics courses about common birthdays among 30 or more people in a room, but wasn't this the worm that sends e-mails to people which contain links to German neo-Nazi websites?

    --
    Slashdot requires you to wait longer between hitting 'reply' and submitting a comment.
  64. 87th Anniversary - how fitting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't that the highly symbolic Francium anniversity. Didn't the Nazi's invade and occupy France? Hmmmmm.

  65. This worm was used for Neo Nazi spam. by sideshow · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's why it's said that January 5th is the 87th aniversary of the NAZIs. This worm already sent out millions of Nazi spam emails so it's probable that the worm doesn't give a fuck about Marlyn Manson's birthday.

    --

    Hollow words will burn and hollow men will burn.

  66. Examples by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Chile, Cuba, Djibouti, Jordan, Liberia, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, anfd that just considers national flags, not state and regional flags within countries

  67. In a related story... by a-zA-Z0-9$_.+!8'(),- · · Score: 1

    In a breakthrough, mathematicians prove Van der Leun's corollary.

  68. On the IntarWeb, ... by hummassa · · Score: 4, Funny

    no one knows if you Yoda are.

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
  69. oooh mod parent informative by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look at that juicy list of organisations! He must have searched wikipedia and hacked through protocols and mainframes an' shit for that! :)

  70. Or my birthday... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks everyone. Really.

  71. Parent is not Offtopic by Burz · · Score: 1

    Editors, please add the relevant info. Many of us do not use Windows and end up wasting time checking a virus' background every time a vague alert is posted on Slashdot.

    Any virus article that doesn't state which OS or application is acting as host is remiss. Windows != "Computers"

  72. Wikipedia entry by geekwithsoul · · Score: 1

    Far more interesting to see the other things associated with the date. Wikipedia has a list

    Who knows, maybe it is because its the 11th day of Christmas, and the author wants to bring attention to those 11 pipers piping? Or maybe they wanted everyone to harken back to the day in 1961 when the show Mr. Ed began? Isn't this jumping to a conclusion that isn't warranted by the available facts?

    Oh wait, this is /., nevermind

  73. List of events on 5th January by larien · · Score: 2, Funny
    From Wikipedia.

    Who cares about the Nazi party? It's gonna strike 50 years to the day Elvis released Heartbreak Hotel!

    1. Re:List of events on 5th January by chawly · · Score: 1

      I agree - who cares about the nazi party ? However, we may all want to learn the words of Heartbreak Hotel - we'll just have to see how bad this version of Sober is.

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  74. What's the correlation? by bobbitt · · Score: 1

    Am I missing something or is this just another case of connecting wildly unrelated dots?

    Why not say it's the scheduled to attack on the 91st anniversary of the French blowing up 1/2 a mile of German trenches?

    Oh wait, that doesn't generate fear like the original claim...

    1. Re:What's the correlation? by atomic-penguin · · Score: 1

      Why not say it's the scheduled to attack on the 91st anniversary of the French blowing up 1/2 a mile of German trenches?

      Because the Sober worm originated in Germany. Furthermore, I don't think this incident you mention is something the Germans are likely to commemorate.

      --
      /^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
    2. Re:What's the correlation? by chawly · · Score: 1

      Oh I don't know - it worries me more than a bit. I mean, well, exploding Frenchmen ? Goodness !

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  75. Party Animals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    The attack date coincides with the 87th anniversary of the Nazi party.

    Musta been a good party if it's still being celebrated. Oh, wait. You mean the formation...

  76. Also apparently sympathetic to WWII Japan by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 1

    Seeing as how this story posted up on December 7.

  77. Why 87? by d_54321 · · Score: 1

    8-7th anniversary, in the 6th year after 2000, on the 5th day after January... in a year with 3 zeros and beginning with 2, in the 1st month... Wait, what happened to 4?
    And why for 87?

  78. Re:For the birds (Mod up Parent!!!!) by squallbsr · · Score: 1

    Somebody mod the parent as teh FUNNY. Come on people, where is your sense of humor? Redundant?! WTF is wrong with you people...

    --
    Sleep: A completely inadequate substitution for Caffeine.
  79. Heil Sober? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Sober is scheduled to start attacking on January 5, 2006
    >which coincides with 87th anniversary of the Nazi party's foundation.

    Ein Worm, ein Reich, ein Führer?

  80. In honor of the new meme... by ENIGMAwastaken · · Score: 1

    lol no this is not a virus.

  81. You've got mail-licious haxxx by bumptehjambox · · Score: 1
    "This discovery emphasizes the ever-present and often underestimated threat of 'hacktivism' -- combining malicious code with political causes," said Joe Payne, vice president, VeriSign iDefense Security Intelligence Services

    That's how he gets the title "VeriSign iDefense Security Intelligence Services"

    Hacktivism, sounds like something some dumb Americans would do...
    Does anyone know wtf their reason is? errr...Don't need a reason for commemorating the Nazi party, I 'spose!

    Is that still political? being the Nazis have no political power anymore... OR is THAT what makes it political?

    This is why I hate politics, between Y2kHacks and 9/11Anthrax they just want us to be afraid to open our mailboxes!

  82. Anniversary? by blackraven14250 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Why the hell would you make the link to the nazi party, on the 87th anniversary? Doesn''t that seem freakin odd?

  83. HAH by infoterror · · Score: 0

    Put a Star of David in /tmp. If the worm gasses it, you know it's a Nazi Trojan.

  84. not just jews by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

    Why do jews get singled out.

    He also equally hated GAYS, GYPSIES, even 1/16th jews and probably russians.

    He also printed tonnes and tonnes of currency.......... errr like how the Federal Reserve is today and soon to not report the M3 supply stats.

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.