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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 09 Issue 45
Volume 9, Issue 45 Atari Online News, Etc. November 9, 2007
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2007
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Brian Bagnall
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0945 11/09/07
~ Salesforce Is Phished! ~ People Are Talking! ~ EA Donates SimCity!
~ Web Networks, No Merge ~ Atari 2600 Makes Hall! ~ Target Pulls Game!
~ AOL Spam Scammer Jailed ~ Microsoft Kills Mac IM ~ Jack Tramiel Update!
~ ~ Russian Malware Site! ~
-* OLPC Laptops In Production! *-
-* Click A Mouse, Feed A Mouth For UN! *-
-* Microsoft's Hacker-Speaker Gets Arrested! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Well, we're pulling out the extra blankets up here in the Northeast this
week. It's been downright cold around here lately; and we've experienced
a few hard frosts the past few days. However, we're looking to see some
warmer temperatures next week. If I'm lucky, I might get in one or two
more rounds of golf before the course closes. That would be nice.
We've started our annual fall clean-up, and attacking those falling
leaves. We've cleaned up the yard twice already, and will likely head
out again this weekend if the weather manages to hold. So far it hasn't
been too bad, as long as I manage to keep up with it.
This week, I've done something that I've never done before. As I stated
last week, my seasonal job at the golf course has ended with the usual
lay off. I convinced myself to file for unemployment benefits, and was
finally able to do so this week. After a number of bouts with lengthy
voice mail hell, and waiting on the phone, I got it done. It was always
my philosophical belief not to take money if I didn't earn it; and it was
a tough decision to make. But, I've been convinced that I've earned the
right to collect. It will likely be a very small amount, but it will be
something to help the household. Heating oil and gasoline prices aren't
going down anytime soon! So, we'll see what happens. Meanwhile, I'll
start to hit the want ads again shortly. So much for retirement again!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
[Editor's Note: Due to the relatively limited number of messages in the
Atari Newsgroups this past week, there will be no People Are Talking
column this week.]
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Target Pulls 'Manhunt 2'!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "Call of Duty" Is 'Modern'
Atari 2600 Enters Hall!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Target Pulls Violent Video Game
Target Corp. said Wednesday it has pulled the "Manhunt 2" video game from
its stores due to particularly gruesome content that can be unlocked by
hackers.
In "Manhunt 2," by Rockstar Games, two prisoners go on a bloody rampage
after escaping from a secret asylum for the criminally insane. Players
take the escapees' point of view.
The game is rated "mature" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board,
whose ratings cover a series of levels from "early childhood" through
"adults only." The original version of "Manhunt 2" was gruesome enough
to earn an "adults only" rating so Rockstar blurred out some of the nasty
bits and got the rating lowered to "mature" before it went on sale on
Halloween.
Like many retailers, Target sells video games and software rated
"mature," which are deemed suitable for players ages 17 and older, but
doesn't stock "adults only" games.
"Target strives to provide merchandise that will appeal to a wide variety
of guests," the Minneapolis-based retailer said in a prepared statement.
"We also want guests to be comfortable with the purchasing decisions they
make at Target."
It took hackers about 24 hours to figure out how to un-blur the imagery
on the version of the game for PlayStation Portables, though only on PSPs
that have been illegally modified.
Officials with Rockstar Games did not immediately return messages seeking
comment Wednesday about Target's decision.
Two years ago, after hackers found a hidden sex scene in "Grand Theft
Auto: San Andreas," the ratings board slapped an "adults only" rating on
it.
Ratings board President Patricia Vance said the board is standing behind
"Manhunt 2's" "mature" rating, noting the difficulty of unlocking the
offending content.
"Call of Duty" Casts Players In Modern Combat
The sniper crouches down in the tall grass, then pauses using his scope
to draw a bead on an enemy soldier, who staggers back in a spray of
blood.
It is easy to mistake the scene for footage from a war movie but it is
actually from "Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat," a new video game that is
storming its way onto the wish-lists of many armchair soldiers this
holiday season.
"Call of Duty 4" casts players in the role of various elite warriors such
as U.S. Marines or British SAS in missions that jump around the world and
even in time.
It's a departure for the series which has produced three popular World
War Two-era games.
Expectations are high in part because the game was made by Infinity
Ward, a highly regarded studio that was founded by the folks behind
"Medal of Honor," widely held to be the seminal World War Two shooting
game.
"We're all huge fans of World War Two and there are still a lot of
stories to be told in a World War Two setting but I think we really need
to prove to the public that 'Call of Duty' is not just a World War Two
franchise. It's a war-based shooter and there are wars at all times,"
Infinity Ward founder Grant Collier said in an interview.
"There were a lot of doubters when we first announced the game ... none
of those people have those concerns any more."
The simExchange, an online prediction market for video game sales,
expects "Call of Duty 4" to sell 1.3 million copies this November and
December just for Microsoft's Xbox 360, with total sales for all versions
to eventually top 6.5 million copies.
It's all adding up to another breakout hit for Infinity Ward parent
Activision, which has been on a roll this year thanks to games like
"Guitar Hero 2."
The game stands to benefit from stumbling by competitors. When Take-Two
delayed its sure-fire blockbuster "Grand Theft Auto IV" from its planned
October release date to next year, analysts immediately pointed to "Call
of Duty 4" as the biggest beneficiary.
The game aims to be THE military action title of its time, supplanting
popular but aging shooter staples such as EA's "Battlefield 2" and
Ubisoft's "Rainbow 6."
"Is there a threat from any other game this holiday season that could
hurt 'Call of Duty' sales? No. 'Call of Duty' is the threat to other
games' sales," said simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich.
There is some grumbling among fans that the single-player campaign can run
as short as four or five hours on the easiest settings, but where the game
is really expected to shine is in its online multiplayer.
Players will be kept busy teasing out the intricacies of an in-depth
weapons upgrade system and menu of "perks" that bestow special abilities
such as moving silently or bullets that pack extra punching power.
As with most military games, realism was a priority.
"Graphically, the goal was to be most photo-realistic game ever made. We
created the first next-gen title ever with 'Call of Duty 2'. That was
back when all these art techniques were in their infancy. With 'Call of
Duty 2' under their belt, these guys have really mastered them," Collier
said.
Developers visited military bases and tagged along for live-fire
exercises, and the very people the game portrays are some of the game's
biggest fans.
"Talking to World War Two vets, the ones that are still around, they
don't play video games and don't really care. But these guys are hot to
trot for video games," Collier said of the Marines.
"Call of Duty 4" was released on November 6 for the Xbox 360, Sony
PlayStation 3 and Windows-based computers.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Jack Tramiel Update
Last week I received a call from Karen Tucker, who is organizing the
December 10th appearance of Jack Tramiel at the Computer History Museum
in California. The event will include key people from Apple, IBM, and
Amiga (see below). When writing the book "On the Edge: the Spectacular
Rise and Fall of Commodore" I tried getting an interview with Jack by
calling him almost a dozen times, writing several letters to him, and
getting his son Leonard to convince him - everything short of showing up
at his ranch and demanding an interview. I'm in awe that Karen has been
able to make this happen. Apparently she and Leonard convinced Jack that
it was important for him to talk about his experiences before it was too
late.
Karen wanted me to pass on some information. Basically Jack is done with
the confrontational period of his life where he had to be hard nosed in
order to run a company in a cutthroat industry. He's now a retired
grandfather who spends most of his time traveling with his family. Karen
wants Jack to feel welcome, where everyone in the audience can listen to
his history with an open mind. Hopefully if he feels welcome at the
museum he will participate in other events and we can eventually piece
together his experiences in the early computer industry. Karen knows that
most people will be receptive to Jack, but she was a little worried that
a few might decide to throw his kind gesture back in his face by
confronting him. If you know of anyone who plans to do this, please
discourage them from attending.
From what I could gather, this is in celebration of the 25th anniversary
of the C64. There will first be a one-on-one interview with Jack
moderated by John Markoff of the NY Times. After that, Steve Wozniak
(Apple II), Bill Lowe (IBM PC) and Adam Chawniac (Amiga) will take to the
stage for more discussion. The discussions will probably focus on
Commodore, though it's possible his Atari history will be included.
Everyone is welcome and if you aren't in the area there will be a video
webcast of the event available on their website. This promises to be a
great event, and I hope to see you there!
More information should be available soon at:
http://www.computerhistory.org/events/
All the best,
Brian Bagnall
Atari 2600, Raggedy Andy, Kite Enshrined
To celebrate the toys inducted Thursday in the National Toy Hall of Fame,
hug a red-haired doll, grab a single-button joystick or go fly a kite.
Raggedy Andy, the Atari 2600 video game system and the kite were chosen
for entry into the Strong National Museum of Play's all-star lineup,
joining the bicycle, Lionel model trains, Mr. Potato Head and 33 other
classic playthings.
"They are outstanding toys that have engaged multiple generations over
time, inspiring them to create, learn, discover," said the Rochester
museum's president, G. Rollie Adams.
In 1977, Atari converted a television set, for good or bad, into a toy.
While it wasn't the first home video game system, it popularized the
fledging electronic games genre with its bright colors, catchy music and
pop-in cartridge versions of arcade favorites such as Pac-Man, Frogger
and Space Invaders.
"It may look primitive compared to the advanced video game systems
available today, but it helped make these possible," said the museum's
curator, Patricia Hogan.
The game system is the most recently invented member of the hall. The
kite, believed to have originated in China almost 3,000 years ago, is
among the oldest.
Kites remain a universal favorite, with some cultures in Asia and the
Middle East turning kite contests into a national pastime.
While its uses have extended to warfare, aerial photography, meteorology
and experiments in electricity, the kite endures for its capacity to
exercise a handler's agility, endurance and knowledge of scientific
principles, Hogan said.
At its heart, however, "a kite needs only a bit of breeze, a wide open
field and a kid who wants to play," she said. "And nothing sends the human
spirit soaring so well as a colorful kite aloft."
The kindly rag doll character Raggedy Andy follows his sister, Raggedy
Ann, into the hall.
"It really seemed like the two of them should be one unit together," said
Christopher Bensch, the museum's vice president for collections.
Raggedy Ann, inducted in 2002, was created in 1918 in a children's book
series by illustrator and author Johnny Gruelle, and her brother was
introduced two years later. They come to life when humans aren't looking
and embark on stirring adventures, and have been featured through the
years in stories, poems, cartoons and greeting cards.
Strong acquired the five-year-old National Toy Hall of Fame from A.C.
Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Ore., in 2002. The toys enshrined
so far range from Barbie to Jack-in-the-Box, Legos to Lincoln Logs,
Slinky to Play-Doh and Crayola crayons to marbles.
On the Net:
http://www.museumofplay.com
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Nonprofit Group Starts Making Low-Cost Laptops
A nonprofit group said on Tuesday production of a new laptop computer for
children in developing countries had begun, a milestone that could shake
up the PC industry by ushering in a new era of low-cost computing.
The One Laptop per Child Foundation, started in 2005 by Massachusetts
Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte, said Taiwan's
Quanta Computer had started mass production of its first product, the
lime-green-and-white XO laptop computer, at a factory in Changshu, China.
The group has already announced orders for children in Uruguay and
Mongolia. It also plans to offer the laptops to Americans and Canadians
through a $399 holiday charity program that covers the cost of providing
a second machine to a child overseas.
The device, which runs on free Linux software, has already had a
significant impact on the industry.
Negroponte has traveled the globe meeting world leaders and talking to
the public about speeding introduction of computers to children in the
developing world. The XO is designed for elementary school students who
are given the machines to take to and from school, like textbooks.
Analysts say the publicity he generated, along with concern his
foundation's laptop might take business from commercial products, prompted
companies, including chipmaker Intel Corp and software maker Microsoft
Corp, to boost investment in developing countries.
It has also spurred the launch of a new class of low-cost computers for a
market broader than school children.
Intel has developed the Classmate PC for the education market in
developing countries, a laptop that it says costs $200 to build. So far
its biggest customer is Pakistan's Allama Iqbal Open University, which
ordered 700,000 of them.
Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc recently introduced a line of notebook
computers, the Eee PCs, that retail for as little as $245 in some
countries and are targeted at children and women.
On Friday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc offered a limited number of laptops from
Acer Inc for $348. It is possible that Wal-Mart might repeat the
promotion or that other retailers will offer similar deals during the
holiday shopping season.
EA Donates SimCity to OLPC Laptops
With the launch of a limited-time "Give 1, Get 1" sales effort for the
groundbreaking XO computer slated for Monday, Electronic Arts added to
the momentum behind the green machine by announcing it is donating the
original SimCity game to the One Laptop Per Child project.
"By gifting SimCity onto each OLPC laptop, EA is providing users with an
entertaining way to engage with computers as well as help develop
decision-making skills while honing creativity," the company said in a
statement.
It's the first donation of a game to the effort.
"SimCity is entertainment that's unintentionally educational. Players
learn to use limited resources to build and customize their cities. There
are choices and consequences, but in the end, it's a creativity tool
that's only limited by the player's imagination," said Steve Seabolt,
vice president of global brand development, The Sims Label.
"The game should prove to be an incredibly effective way of making the
laptop relevant, engaging, and fun, particularly for first time players.
We are thrilled to be making this contribution to OLPC to help meet their
goal of educating the children of the world."
The donation comes on the heels of several partnerships with OLPC,
including T-Mobile's donation of a year of free hotspot use for XO owners
and Hosting.com's donation of an XO machine for every server it sells in
November and December.
OLPCNews editor Wayan Vota called the donation of SimCity "another great
achievement of Nicholas Negroponte's dream."
Negroponte started the OLPC project in 2005 with the idea that developing
countries would buy millions of the machines to distribute to children.
That vision has not panned out as OLPC has only received one solid
commitment to buy, from Uruguay. That has led Negroponte to switch
largely to a philanthropic model.
Give 1, Get 1 (G1G1) is the first initiative under that model and it has
a certain sector of technophiles fired up to get their hands on one. The
program runs from November 12 to 26 and allows consumers in the U.S. and
Canada to buy two machines, one to keep, one to donate to a child in the
developing world.
Vota faults OLPC for limiting the G1G1 program to North America. "This
has more to do with logistics, support, and other bureaucratic reasons
that apply to international commerce of electronic equipment and not an
arbitrary decision that forgot or ignored the rest of the world," an OLPC
representative said on the project's Wiki.
But Vota said he wonders why OLPC can't just use a transatlantic courier
to deliver the machines. Whatever the cost could be tacked on for
purposes of the G1G1 program.
Vota has proposed a way for consumers outside of North America to route
around OLPC's policy. They can simply set up a mail forwarding account so
they can order the machines sent to a U.S. address and then have them
shipped anywhere in the world. Vota has set up such an arrangement
himself at a UPS store in Washington D.C.
Click A Mouse, Feed A Mouth In U.N. Campaign
A food-linked word game put on the Internet a month ago has proved a
runaway success and has already generated enough rice to feed 50,000
people, the United Nations World Food Programme said on Friday.
FreeRice offers participants multiple choice definitions to the meaning
of a word, with each correct click generating 10 grains of rice for the
WFP.
The brainchild of American online fundraising pioneer John Breen, the Web
site (www.freerice.com) relies on advertising revenue to underwrite its
rice campaign.
"FreeRice really hits home how the Web can be harnessed to raise
awareness and funds for the world's number one emergency," said Josette
Sheeran, executive director of the Rome-based WFP.
"The site is a viral marketing success story with more than one billion
grains of rice donated in just one month to help tackle hunger
worldwide," she added.
The day it was launched on October 7 just 830 grains of rice were donated.
But the Internet community quickly caught on, and on November 8 alone 77
million grains were donated - equivalent to more than seven million
correct clicks.
Ultra-Fast Internet Networks Won't Merge
The on-again, off-again talks to merge two ultra-fast nonprofit Internet
networks have ended again - for good this time, it appears.
Internet2 and National LambdaRail serve many of the nation's universities
and research institutions by offering fast Internet connections that
physicists, astronomers and other researchers need to exchange large
amounts of data.
The two next-generation networks began with separate missions, but their
technologies and services converged over the years. And Jeff Lehman,
chairman of Internet2's board, said their clients backed the merger
because the organizations largely served the same community.
Talks resumed this year, and a committee with top leaders from each
network worked out a compromise in August.
Internet2's board approved it, despite misgivings by some of its board
members, but LambdaRail's board sought more concessions. And last week,
both sides called it quits.
"A lot of us are disappointed," said Internet2's Lehman, a member of the
merger committee. "We knew it was a challenge, and we were hopeful that
we would find a way to get to the end this time."
Many LambdaRail participants felt they had invested in the system and
wanted greater returns, Lehman said. He said Internet2 offered as much
financial benefits as it could.
LambdaRail Chairman Erv Blythe, in a statement, described his organization
as an atypical nonprofit, one that tracked how much individual members
gave and received. He said LambdaRail needed additional concessions to
satisfy its obligations to contributing members.
"Under the circumstances, we agree that our respective organizations have
no choice but to move forward independently," Lehman and Blythe said in a
joint statement.
Microsoft Kills Mac IM, Updates Office For Mac
Microsoft is going to kill off MSN Messenger for Mac and replace the IM
software with a new product. The company last night also released its
latest software update for Office 2004 for Mac.
Microsoft revealed its IM plans during a presentation at the Georgia
Institute of Technology's IEEE Student Branch. The company plans to ditch
its existing IM solution for Mac in order to develop and deliver a more
advanced client.
While details are scarce at present, the new Mac software is expected to
appear by the end of next year and will support AIM, Google Talk, and ICQ
and be compatible with Windows Live Messenger 9.0.
The Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.9 update fixes an issue that
causes Word 2004 to quit unexpectedly when users print a document.
Microsoft notes that this update is recommended for Office 2004 Standard
Edition, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition, Office 2004
Professional Edition, Word 2004. The update weighs in as a 2.49MB
download.
Salesforce.com Falls For Phishing Scam, Warns Customers
Salesforce.com is warning customers that they may be the targets of
malicious software or phishing scams after one of its employees was
tricked into divulging a corporate password.
In a note to customers, Salesforce said that online criminals have been
sending customers fake invoices and, starting just a few days ago,
viruses and key logging software. The e-mails were sent using information
that was illegally obtained from Salesforce.com.
Salesforce.com bills its Web-based CRM products as easier to use and
maintain than traditional CRM software, but this latest development
underlines the security risks that come with this more open model.
The problems began a few months ago when a Salesforce.com employee fell
for a phishing scam and divulged a company password that gave attackers
access to a customer contact list. With this password, the criminals were
able to obtain first and last names, company names, e-mail addresses, and
telephone numbers of Salesforce.com customers.
"As a result of this, a small number of our customers began receiving
bogus e-mails that looked like Salesforce.com invoices," Salesforce.com
said.
Some of those customers then fell victim to the scam and gave up their
passwords to the criminals, too. When Salesforce.com started seeing
malicious software being attached to these e-mails, the company decided
to issue a general alert to its nearly 1 million subscribers.
According to the Washington Post, Suntrust Banks was one of the customers
victimized by this scam.
Salesforce.com is working with law enforcement to resolve the problem,
but in the meantime, it is recommending that customers implement a number
of security measures in order to cut down on the phisher's chance of
succeeding.
Suggested actions include restricting Salesforce.com account access to
users who are within the corporate network, phishing education or the use
of stronger authentication techniques to log on to the Salesforce.com
servers.
On Tuesday, Salesforce.com declined to comment further on the matter.
"Everything that they have to say about it is in this note," a spokesman
with the company's public-relations agency said.
Microsoft Stands By Its Invite to Arrested Hacker
Microsoft's security team took a bit of a chance a few weeks ago, when it
invited Roberto Preatoni to give a talk at its Redmond campus.
Preatoni is the founder of Wabisabilabi, a Switzerland-based company that
bills itself as an auction site for the software bugs that companies like
Microsoft never want anybody to see. He spoke at Microsoft in late
September as an invited guest at Microsoft's semi-annual Blue Hat
security conference.
But what had been an edgy invite by Microsoft's Blue Hat planners took on
a new dimension this week, when Preatoni was arrested in Milan on charges
relating to a national spying scandal at Telecom Italia, Italy's largest
telephone carrier.
Preatoni's company confirmed his arrest in a statement Thursday, saying
that his work for Telecom Italia was unrelated to Wabisabilabi (the
incidents at Telecom Italia took place before Wabisabilabi was founded)
and that the company was "confident that his innocence will be
established if a case ever comes to court."
The charismatic Preatoni was a popular speaker at security conferences but
his company's controversial business model raised some eyebrows.
So was it a miscalculation to invite him to Blue Hat? Not at all, said
George Stathakopoulos, general manager of Microsoft's Response and Product
Centers "Look, if you think of Blue Hat as being [for] someone who comes
to work with us, that's a mistake," he said. "We brought HD Moore in."
Moore, no fan of Microsoft, is the is the author of the open-source
Metasploit hacking tool and he has written code that exploits dozens, if
not hundreds, of critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft's products.
According to Stathakopoulos, the whole point of the Blue Hat conference is
to bring in new voices that will challenge Microsoft developers.
"If you bring this guy in and he talks to your development force, he says
I am buying vulnerabilities against your products and they have value.
Make your products better because I am your enemy," he said. "So the fact
that he got arrested, I'm not happy about it because I thought he was a
good guy. But what do I know?"
But not everybody reacted positively to Preatoni's talk. "Some people say
god I hate this guy; people say 'why did you bring him over here?'"
Stathakopoulos said. "But when people internalize it and step back and
they think about it a little they think, 'I've got a lot of work to do.'"
NJ Man Gets Two Years Jail For AOL Spam Scam
A New Jersey man was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Friday
for helping send "spam" e-mails to more than 1.2 million America Online
subscribers.
Todd Moeller, 28, was sentenced 27 months in prison in a federal court
in New York after he was caught making a deal with a government informant
to send junk e-mails - known as spam - advertising a computer security
program in return for 50 percent of the profits, the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Manhattan said.
Moeller and Adam Vitale of New York pleaded guilty earlier this year to
breaking anti-spam laws and defeating AOL's filter system by using a
variety of computer servers and changing the header information on
e-mails to ensure they could not be traced, court papers said.
Moeller told the informant via instant messaging he could conceal the
source of the e-mails through his access to 40 different servers and had
profited $40,000 a month from other spam e-mail scams that promoted
stocks, prosecutors said.
In one week in August 2005 Moeller and Vitale sent e-mails on behalf of
the informant to more than 1.27 million addresses of subscribers at AOL,
the online division of Time Warner Inc.
Vitale will be sentenced November 13.
Major Russian Malware Site Goes Offline
One of the Internet's most notorious malware and software exploit hubs,
the Russian Business Network, has suddenly gone offline.
Trend Micro reports that Internet domains associated with the network
went down at 7 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, Nov. 6, taking
with it a network provider accused of hosting some of the worst
criminal activities the Internet has to offer, including various
high-profile software exploits, voracious Trojan malware, and even
hosting sites used for child porn.
"That RBN, currently, has no Internet connectivity means that the Web is
a somewhat safer place today. Unfortunately, this may not be for long.
RBN may find new upstream providers," suggests the Trend blog.
It is not clear precisely what has caused the downing of the RBN, but
Trend speculates that some problem with an upstream ISP might be to
blame.
The Washington Post times the downing as having happened on Nov. 4, and
states that the RBN has been in trouble since the newspaper publicised
its activities in October causing upstream providers Tiscali.uk and the
Russia's C41 to drop it.
The RBN is significant enough to have spawned numerous articles
detailing its activities, an extensive entry on Wikipedia, and a number
of sites dedicated to documenting its alleged nastiness. Recent malware
events it has been blamed for include October's Adobe PDF exploit, and
the hacking of the Bank of India in September.
One RBN watch-blog claims it was behind 40 of 57 fake anti-malware
software products came from it.
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
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Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
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material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
