romkey@asylum.UUCP (John Romkey) (11/08/88)
Thot you all might enjoy some excerpts from some of the more vacuous articles about the recent infection. These quotes do not make any more sense in full context. Honest. As a side issue, I think the virus RFC is an excellent idea, but please, *please* DO try to get the press to use it as the basis for their material. Shove it down the throat of PC Week, at least. Part of the reason the press seems to screw up things so often or make up things is that they don't have good access to the information. The suggestion of keeping this RFC out of the hands of the press is horrible; some publications may screw up now as it is, but they'll have no hope of getting it right if the information isn't made available to them. Both excerpts are reprinted without permission. ComputerWorld, Nov 7, p157: "MIS reacts" "...Polaroid Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., told users to minimize their exposure to the virus by temporarily avoiding use of databases established by neighbor and virus victim MIT. "'We always insist that our people don't replicate software or otherwise violate copyright laws,' said Al Hyland, director of world-wide systems at Polaroid... "...Carl Conger, manager of client services at Texas Utilities Co. in Dallas said, 'Most of our corporate communications is on leased lines.'" PC Week, Nov7, p8: "'Worm' Attacks National Network" "...No data was destroyed, however, leading computer experts to state that it was a worm, not a virus. A software worm differs from a virus in that it is a program that installs itself in a system and takes total control of a computer's resources, while a virus consists of code that is installed in a program and, when invoked, can spread throughout a system and destroy data." - john romkey UUCP: romkey@asylum.uucp ARPA: romkey@xx.lcs.mit.edu ...!ames!oli-stl!asylum!romkey Telephone: (415) 594-9268 Immanentize the Eschaton: Vote BUSH in '88.