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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: List Dates /Virus
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 09:39:13 +0000
Top Ten:
> gurth@******.nl 6223
> u5a77@*****.cs.keele.ac.uk 2344
> hayden@*******.mankato.msus.edu 1617
> chaos@*****.com 1576
> dbuehrer@****.org 1477
> lobo1@****.com 1402
> ratinox@***.neu.edu 1369
> m.j.steedman@***.rgu.ac.uk 1228
> bob@**.ntu.edu.au 1020
> jormung@*****.umich.edu 950

going on to Me. :)

> sascha.pabst@**********.uni-oldenburg.de 936
> rjr96326@****.utulsa.edu 926
> feanor@**********.uni-bremen.de 904
> adm82@***.edu.au 865
> ereskanti@***.com 797
> bxb121@***.edu 795

#16! Wow, I must talk a lot if I can come in and in less than a year
take #16 from over 4 years worth of posts.... But then Bull took #4
in just over a year...

(Gee, 1 more post and I can take #5/#15...:) )

does this mean I talk to much? Do I ever say anything worth hearing
(reading)?

Anyway, in an attempt to keep this on topic (and EARN my #5 :)

What would someone think about about a psychotropic/electric
virus....

Example:

Decker A gets whacked with the Black IC and gets infected...he now
has a nasty little subconcious impulse that has two parts:

1) He instinctively broadcasts the equivilant of a big flag when he's
online....but you only notice it if you are looking for it....this
lets the company the programmed the IC set up a simple scan for
anyone waving this "flag", thus bypassing the deckers wonderful
sleaze utility.

(This would work in a manner similar to making the person habitually
slap the Return key an extra time in a command line
interface....normally it does nothing, but if the interface
(say...Company A's Server) was set to watch for that.....Remember,
this is an analogy only)

2) [This is where things get funky] He must somehow transmit this
affect to others. The options I can come up with are:
-If the IC fragment is "simple" enough programming wise, he does it
on the fly when meeting another decker and never notices.
-He writes his own "infect" routine and uses it when combatting
another decker.
-He includes it in any programs he writes, and any deckers that copy
them and run them get infected.

Naturally I don't expect the decker to come up with Black IC
routines, but I'm not sure what is involved in the psychotropic part
of the programming....Is the complex part of Black IC the "force your
deck to fry your own brain" or is it everything or is it just
bypassing all the normal ASIST signal filters?

Can anyone come up with a "psychological virus" like this? [I've
been reading too many meme papers recently]

-=SwiftOne=-
(On the way to #5!)
Brett Borger
SwiftOne@***.edu
AAP Techie
Message no. 2
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: List Dates /Virus
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 08:09:45 -0700
Brett Borger wrote:
|
| What would someone think about about a psychotropic/electric
| virus....
|
| Example:
|
| Decker A gets whacked with the Black IC and gets infected...he now
| has a nasty little subconcious impulse that has two parts:

The Decker gets infected? Like a post-hypnotic suggestion? Hmmm.
That takes awhile. Maybe the after the Black IC overwhelmes the
decker it "sits" on him for time it takes to "infect" him. Then the
decker wakes up with the memory of jacking out at the last instant,
and a big headache.

| 1) He instinctively broadcasts the equivilant of a big flag when he's
| online....but you only notice it if you are looking for it....this
| lets the company the programmed the IC set up a simple scan for
| anyone waving this "flag", thus bypassing the deckers wonderful
| sleaze utility.

I could see the decker being "programmed" to leaving markers behind. But
I'm not sure if he could be set up to wave a "flag" in real time. If he
was doing this then other decker's would have a chance to notice.

| 2) [This is where things get funky] He must somehow transmit this
| affect to others. The options I can come up with are:
| -If the IC fragment is "simple" enough programming wise, he does it
| on the fly when meeting another decker and never notices.

The fragment would not be simple, IMHO.

| -He writes his own "infect" routine and uses it when combatting
| another decker.

I don't think so. The Black IC that did this to him would be pretty hefty
and I don't think the Decker could be programmed to do it to other
deckers.

| -He includes it in any programs he writes, and any deckers that copy
| them and run them get infected.

Again, the Black IC would be to big. Your talking about altering a
person's unconscious. I don't think a simple virus could do this.

-David
1581
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing
which ones to keep."
Message no. 3
From: Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: List Dates /Virus
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 10:46:05 +0000
> |
> | Decker A gets whacked with the Black IC and gets infected...he now
> | has a nasty little subconcious impulse that has two parts:
>
> The Decker gets infected? Like a post-hypnotic suggestion? Hmmm.
> That takes awhile. Maybe the after the Black IC overwhelmes the
> decker it "sits" on him for time it takes to "infect" him. Then
the
> decker wakes up with the memory of jacking out at the last instant,
> and a big headache.

Isn't Psychotropic Black IC described in VR2.0 as being no slower
than normal IC? It has been a while since I read that section....

> | 1) He instinctively broadcasts the equivilant of a big flag when he's
> | online....but you only notice it if you are looking for it....this
> | lets the company the programmed the IC set up a simple scan for
> | anyone waving this "flag", thus bypassing the deckers wonderful
> | sleaze utility.
>
> I could see the decker being "programmed" to leaving markers behind. But
> I'm not sure if he could be set up to wave a "flag" in real time. If he
> was doing this then other decker's would have a chance to notice.

The "flag" was an analogy. basicly he "leaks" some data that could
be detected if one were looking for it. Yes, another decker could
notice, but I would rule that wouldn't notice unless they looked.
Just as if a pixel were the wrong shade....

> | -If the IC fragment is "simple" enough programming wise, he does it
> | on the fly when meeting another decker and never notices.
>
> The fragment would not be simple, IMHO.

I think so to, I just want to try this concept and I'm trying to
figure out how it can work.

> | -He writes his own "infect" routine and uses it when combatting
> | another decker.
>
> I don't think so. The Black IC that did this to him would be pretty hefty
> and I don't think the Decker could be programmed to do it to other
> deckers.

Sigh. Agreed on both points.
>
> | -He includes it in any programs he writes, and any deckers that copy
> | them and run them get infected.
>
> Again, the Black IC would be to big. Your talking about altering a
> person's unconscious. I don't think a simple virus could do this.

This one I would disagree with...this is a small change induced
through the equivilent of BTL. I see that section as being very easy
to do...the difficult part is getting the decker to expose his brain
to it.

-=SwiftOne=-
Brett Borger
SwiftOne@***.edu
AAP Techie
Message no. 4
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: List Dates /Virus
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 08:59:17 -0700
Brett Borger wrote:
|
| Isn't Psychotropic Black IC described in VR2.0 as being no slower
| than normal IC? It has been a while since I read that section....

It's been awhile since I read it to. And VR2 is so memorable... I
guess I'll have to add it to my list of "read it again" stuff
<sigh>. I just wanna be like Gurth ;)

| > I could see the decker being "programmed" to leaving markers behind. But
| > I'm not sure if he could be set up to wave a "flag" in real time. If he
| > was doing this then other decker's would have a chance to notice.
|
| The "flag" was an analogy. basicly he "leaks" some data that could
| be detected if one were looking for it. Yes, another decker could
| notice, but I would rule that wouldn't notice unless they looked.
| Just as if a pixel were the wrong shade....

Oh, okay. That I can live with.

| > | -If the IC fragment is "simple" enough programming wise, he does it
| > | on the fly when meeting another decker and never notices.
| >
| > The fragment would not be simple, IMHO.
|
| I think so to, I just want to try this concept and I'm trying to
| figure out how it can work.
|
| > | -He writes his own "infect" routine and uses it when combatting
| > | another decker.
| >
| > I don't think so. The Black IC that did this to him would be pretty hefty
| > and I don't think the Decker could be programmed to do it to other
| > deckers.
|
| Sigh. Agreed on both points.

How about if the Decker is programmed to tell other deckers about
this cheesy site that they should check out if they get the chance
(he hands out the address for the Black IC so it can snag other
deckers). And he could do it unknowingly. It could make for a fun
adventure when a Decker is told about his site (by an already
infected decker) checks it out and runs into the Black IC. He tries
to find the decker that set him up but can't. Later one of his
decker friends/contacts comes knocking bitching about being setup by
the Decker and facing some Black IC. The Decker can't remember
telling anyone the address. Then the fun begins <EGMLOL>.

| > Again, the Black IC would be to big. Your talking about altering a
| > person's unconscious. I don't think a simple virus could do this.
|
| This one I would disagree with...this is a small change induced
| through the equivilent of BTL. I see that section as being very easy
| to do...the difficult part is getting the decker to expose his brain
| to it.

BTL is a fairly well understood technology. But those things still
require a lot of memory. It's not a matter of complexity or being
able to do it, but the program required would be huge, IMHO.

-David
1582
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing
which ones to keep."

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