[CrackMonkey] [nick@zork.net: Re: artistic expression on www.crackmonkey.org]

[Nick Moffitt]

	This was my response.

----- Nick Moffitt <nick at zork.net> -----

To: Darren Grabowski <drg at verio.net>
Cc: rick at linuxmafia.com, NOC Security <security at verio.net>,
	larrysh at best.net
Subject: Re: artistic expression on www.crackmonkey.org

begin  Darren Grabowski quotation:
> Verio Security was notified of malicious code on the website,
> www.crackmonkey.org,

	I protest.  The code is certainly obnoxious, but by no means
"malicious".  The code itself has no intent, and certainly no
malicious intent.  It makes a ludicrous request that is denied
immediately by the browser.

> that has no other purpose than to overwrite system files on a
> Windows machine.  

	The purpose of the code is to be dada.  Crackmonkey.org is a
dadaist site, and everything about it is there for the purposes of
artistic expression.  If the purpose of the code is as you state
above, then it has failed miserably.

> Any unsuspecting user that visits this site has the potential to be
> affected by the code.

	Agreed.  Upon viewing the source of the page, or after reading
the ridiculous error messages put up by the site, the effect on the
user depends on his or her interpretation of the event.  Affecting the
observer is what dadaism is all about.

	You may wish to review the fundamentals of Dadaism.  There are
some rather nice links at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/ and a google
search for "dada" may prove informative.

> Under the advice of the Verio legal staff, we have blocked this
> site, and we will be notifying the authorities.  

	I would like to contact these authorities regarding a
denial-of-service (DoS) attack that has been perpetrated on my site.
Would you care to give me their contact information?

> We will lift the block, but only after the code has been removed
> from the website.

	I believe we have a chicken-and-egg problem here.  How can you
verify that the site no longer contains the code if you have blocked
all traffic from it?

	I would like to know exactly who it was that notified you of
the code.  I have received e-mails from a few opportunists who tried
to convince me, despite the evidence I collected from my own tests,
that their machines were damaged by the mere act of viewing my site.
Invariably, their reasons for mailing me involved sums of cash or
reasons for not providing services for me.  I discounted their reports
as being cheap attempts at capitalizing on the controversial nature of
the crackmonkey site.

	At the urging of others, however, I put a warning up on the
front page.  To this day, I have not seen a machine damaged by the
crackmonkey.org site.  After all, how can a mere one line of HTML do
such a thing?

-- 
CrackMonkey.Org - Non-sequitur arguments and ad-hominem personal attacks
LinuxCabal.Org  - Co-location facilities and meeting space 

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
CrackMonkey.Org - Non-sequitur arguments and ad-hominem personal attacks
LinuxCabal.Org  - Co-location facilities and meeting space