dave@infopro.UUCP (David Fiedler) (04/09/84)
<food for thought> There have been some people who thought that planting of this rather hilarious piece was somehow in "bad taste", because they genuinely thought a new era of Soviet-U.S. cooperation was at hand. Perhaps we should take another look at some of the text of the original posting... >> We have been informed that on this network many people have given strong >> anti-Russian opinions, but we believe they have been misguided by their >> leaders, especially the American administration, who is seeking for war >> and domination of the world. >> ... >> Some of those in the Western world, who believe in the truth of what we >> say have made possible our entry on this network; to them we are very >> grateful. We hereby invite you to freely give your comments and opinions. If this were taken at face value, the meaning could roughly be translated as follows: While export to Warsaw Pact countries of advanced computers that could be used for military purposes, such as the VAX, has been prohibited, someone in league with us at the Kremlin has procured one for us [tantamount in this sense to bringing them the plans for one of our fighters -- DF]. We always knew you foolish capitalists would sell us the rope to hang you with! The war-mongering Reagan and all his dupes had better watch out, since we now have access to Arpanet and could probably break security on every computer on Usenet as well...after all, you people never *really* thought security was important, did you? While I'm as much in favor of TRUE Soviet-American cooperation on all fronts (including the eventual reduction of arms) as the next person, let's keep a perspective. Soviet access to the VAX would be a very serious matter, and just how secure WOULD you feel if the KGB could not only read your postings (some of which are quite revealing at times) but maybe get into your system? There ARE security holes, you know... "That's the biz, sweetheart..." Dave Fiedler {harpo,astrovax,philabs}!infopro!dave P.S. You also might consider that the NSA and CIA have access to the net. -- "That's the biz, sweetheart..." Dave Fiedler {harpo,astrovax,philabs}!infopro!dave