Paul Ferguson wrote:

I'd like to get some of your collective thoughts an a matter which has stirred quite a debate in the free-information/computer- virus-exchange arena.

Okay... The stated charge against Kim Clancy is that she posted [or allowed to be posted], among other contraband, virus disassemblies [poor, by your reckoning]. But, as the complaint emerged on VIRUS-L, I suspect the actual offense, far worse in the eyes of builders of empires and reputations was that she openly and knowingly consorted with known "hackers" and other underground types. I suggest that what so belatedly brought the wrath of the self-righteous down on Kim Clancy is that she broke the rules of the inner circle of the VIRUS-L self-appointed elect. While Kim Clancy is not the only security type to knowingly and openly communicate with the unwashed, she is one of the few to demonstrate an excess of intelligence over ego. She would seem to know that no one person or group is the font of perfect knowledge. If the US military didn't learn from the VC, was it the VC's fault? There is, of course, little so conducive to the enhancement of undeserved reputation as that based upon knowledge alleged to be so dangerous and so sacrosanct that no one outside the inner circle can be trusted with possession. Sounds like a disease all too common inside and about the beltway, among TLA's and bureaucracies, both corporate and governmental. VIRUS-L Digest I find amusing, a suitable substitute for MAD Magazine. I've never seen it undigested, but if the signal-to-noise ratio is as poor as in the Digest, it must be gargantuan. Budding shrinks and social studies types looking for new ground to work just might find material for several dissertations there. VIRUS-L Digest seems the perfect place to look if one is bent on studying the cult of the self-appointed, self-important keepers of the myth of the mainframe priesthood. There is information there, but, as Eliot wrote in one of the Sweeney poems, "the trouble is, I gotta use words when I talk to you." Therefore, in VIRUS-L Digest, most of the information is between the lines. And some residing within the select inner circle don't have quite the depth of knowledge they think. For the record, Paul, I do not have knowledge of any virus exchange boards. I am sure they exist, I just don't know of any. And for yourself and Peterson, I've never inquired of anyone for any such information. I believe I can meet Peterson's criteria for admission to his tutelage, but have neither need nor desire... which may have been the point to his recent... challenge. I am curious how your foreign colleague discovered this threat to western civilization. As I understand it, the AIS BBS is a dial-up board. Was he running a demon dialer across the net? Was he working for MI-5? Your "exposure" of an open secret seems to me not unlike what happens on the playground during recess. Much ado about nothing. While the danger of viruses is real, I do believe those who would be our protectors have learned something from that branch of the Department of Corporate/High-Tech Welfare [aka Department of Defense], which, not content with probably unconstitutional military involvement in law enforcement, is now attempting to drum up new contracts to protect us from the comet/asteroid menace. Crikey. I dunno about secret cabals of "underground hackers" out to get you... I think the danger there is about as great as that to Bozo Reagan from "secret Lybian hit squads." Save me from legends in their own minds. No more fucking secrets... You asked... --------------------------------------------------------------------- internet : xxclark@indst.indstate.edu RelayNet (488) Vanilla BITNET: XXCLARK@INDST FidoNet (1:2230/114) Phone: 911 TechNet 11:800/0 One need not be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------