sjb (08/30/82)
Dave Borman's feature of B news does not hold up in this case. Careful examination of the headers in the article files in question reveals this. The article he posted using the -f feature of inews carries a stolaf.### postmark. Even though he changed his address, he did not change the postmark. This letter is most definitely traceable back to stolaf because of this. Now, if you look at the 'articles' from erewhon, you will see that they carry erewhon.### postmarks. Obviously, they were *NOT* sent using the -f option to inews. Now, either erewhon does exist or someone has found a way to forge names AND postmarks (actually quite easy to do)
trt (09/01/82)
The problem of news article authentication has been long known and both Steve Bellovin (unc!smb) and Mark Horton (cbosgd!mark) are working on solutions involving encryption. Bogus articles have appeared before, apparently to provide anonymity, and have caused few problems. Why the rucus? I bet your site still has mode 777 /usr/spool/mail! Speaking of mail, what about Usenet mail? It is easier to generate bogus mail than bogus news and a clever villain could instigate a wide range of mischief for revenge, personal gain, or just for fun. Are any mail implementors considering this problem? Good grief! Which is more important on Usenet, news or mail? Tom Truscott (duke!trt)
mat (09/05/82)
My personal feelings on this EREWHON ( or nowhere ): This individual, or group, is protesting the use of the net for jokes which are potentially offensive and which are submitted with questionable wisdom. In doing so, this individual or group is violating the US right to be faced by ones accuser when placed on trial. Erewhon is, in fact, placing A.T. on a trial-by-media that smacks at one of the New York Post and the Fundamentalist Right. System administrators, network administrators, and others should take this into consideration before acting or developing opinions on the basis of the articles submitted by this/these people who are engaging in a sort of guerrilla (spelling?) war with the 'citizenry' of the network. As usual, the only people with anything to lose are the victims of the terrorist attacks. Mark Terribile at BTL Holmdel, HO x2989, rm 4f519 hou5a!mat