Net Wars

Was it just coincidence that the infamous Melissa virus broke out just one day after NATO began bombing Yugoslavia? Yale political science professor H. Bradford Westerfield didn't think so, and he suspected that the Melissa virus may have been politically motivated and part of a protest movement based in Yugoslavia.

"The exact position and time," of the Melissa virus outbreak what were first alerted Westerfield. In addition, Westerfield had read a New York Times article that reported on Yugoslavians who were using the Internet to launch attacks on the NATO server. The Yugolsav dissidents launched numerous email and ping attacks on the NATO server, and have reportedly caused some damage. Other groups, such as a Yugoslav radio station, have been releasing dispatches over the web.

Today, however, a 30-year old man in New Jersey was arrested for the release of the Melissa virus. The suspect is a resident of Aberdeen, NJ, and reportedly named the virus after a topless dancer in Florida, where he used to live.

When Westerfield heard news of the arrest, "my suspicions were somewhat alleviaited...[there was no] indication that suspect has any international or political connections," he said.

However, there are still "suspicions" in Westerfield's mind about other acts of cyberterrorism. Though a topless dancer and a mean streak appear to be the foundations of the Melissa virus, the attacks on the NATO server have taken warfare right onto the Information Superhighway.

—By Ayon Nandi

New powerhouse computers to hit clusters

"Why shouldn't we be able to offer the student who chose not buy a computer access to powerful graphics, nice sound, and video games?"

The question resonated all over Yale's Computing Assistant (CA's) email lists. Steven Miller, the Berkeley CA that originated the comment, wants ITS to spend its numerous grants and discounts with IBM and Hewlett-Packard to buy a few really good computers for the college clusters, where they would be used as gaming stations. "I think each cluster should have more computers with the high-powered graphics and sound, capable of running DVD-ROM videos, mp3s and maybe Action Quake," Miller said.

Informations Technology Services (ITS) was listening to Miller. ITS recently announced in an email message to the CA's email list that it would be buying a series of Xeon 450 MHz chips, as well as TNT video cards and AWE64 sound devices, and letting Miller and the rest of the CA's assemble Quake and video game consoles. "These things will kick mega-ass," said a spokesperson for ITS. "We believe that the use of computers for education is a waste of their abilities. Everyone knows that the whole foundation of Yale as an institution rests upon unproductive gaming."

Miller and clan ELAY, a Yale quaking group, plan to use the new clusters to sponsor tournaments. Peter Sung, SY '99 has already started recruiting Quake players for a Saybrook IM squad.

ITS, however, will be providing headphones for the computer gamers so Directed Studies students won't be distracted from their last-minute typing.

With apologies to Steve Miller, clan ELAY, ITS, and Quake, Yale Herald Online wishes everyone a Happy April Fool's Day

Periodic Ponderous Page Pick

This week, the Yale Herald Online brings you yet another ponderous page pick. This week, in one of our web surfing expeditions, the online editors stumbled upon the Claudia Odiaka's homepage. We were lured in by large bold links proclaiming "See, Hear, See More, and Speak." What we saw was a nifty interactive, still-shot movie. We won't give away the ending, but Claudia's movie is a lot like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, only with pictures and links. In addition, there is a "movie buff's" dictionary, containing entries for everything from "Say Anything" to "The Godfather." Claudia also has collected a large number of sound files to use for Windows alerts, all of which are available for download. Monthy Python and Clue fans will especially like the selections under the "You've Got Mail," sounds. Go there.

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