Re: Fwd: INTERNET VIRUS ALERT

Raymond Eisenstark (Raymond.Eisenstark@ska.com)
Fri, 31 Mar 1995 12:48:26 +0500


Talk about hysteria! A few points:

1. I assume this virus does its business on PCs, although that was never
explicitly mentioned. Just another reason to avoid them....

2. Isn't this the same "virus" that was talked about late last year? This
hot news is a little stale.

3. What self-respecting virus would announce its presence in the subject
line of an email?

4. What is "an nth-complexity infinite binary loop"? Sounds like something
that my sainted grandmother might be impressed by, but are you going to
fall for such mumbo-jumbo? And, just how does it "severly [sic] damage
the processor."? Perhaps it melts into a pool of silicon when confronted
by the awesome intelligence of this virus.

On a more serious note, this sort of hysteria, coupled with the non-thinking
and untimely dissemination of same, creates the popular impression that the
net is an evil place, populated with hobgoblins and bogey men of the worst
kind. IMHO, the real problem lies in the reaction of the messengers.

BTW, what was this note doing on this list?

-- 
Raymond Eisenstark
+1.212.238.2588