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In a rather misguided effort, an alleged 17-year-old female hacker has created a computer worm called “Sharpei.” Sharpei targets Microsoft’s .NET internet services. Viruses and worms typically are intended to be mischievous rather than socially conscious, but this one is an exception. The still-anonymous hacker, who is known only by the handle Gigabyte, tells U.K. anti-virus company Sophos that she wants to demonstrate that women are just as good as men when it comes to creating computer viruses and programming. Gigabyte claims she didn’t mean for the virus to spread, but it did, although anti-virus companies say it presents a relatively small threat. The worm is also notable because it may be the first ever written in C-sharp, the language of Microsoft’s .NET platform. The emails that carry the worm bear the subject line “Important: Windows update.” It isn’t clear where the hacker lives or whether she’ll face punitive actions.
Yahoo Groups rendered inaccessible
Millions of people were unable to log onto Yahoo discussion lists this week, when Yahoo Groups went off-line Monday without any warning or explanation. The blackout fueled speculation that Yahoo either is working on a scheme to start charging for the service or having trouble merging Yahoo Groups with an older, similar and now discontinued service, Yahoo Clubs. Yahoo denies that it will charge for the service, so the latter has turned out to be closer to the truth. However a Yahoo spokesperson told News.com that the problem had something to do with hardware. Additionally, Yahoo Groups recently introduced large, intrusive ad formats, pinpointed by some users as affecting the service’s reliability and user-friendliness. Whatever the reason, the outage left millions of users without the ability to access emails and messages related to the groups. Access to the groups had been restored as of Tuesday evening.
JMM introduces online ad tools
Jupiter Media Metrix is branching out from its usual business of tracking internet traffic and behavior and has launched a product for media planners and buyers. Jupiter Media Metrix says that its new Advertising Planning System lets media planners and buyers roughly calculate the size of the unique audience they can reach with a given impression-based buy, managing reach and frequency. Ostensibly, with Jupiter's predictive model, media people can gauge advertising effectiveness before a campaign begins. The tool also predicts the frequency of exposure to an ad and comes up with Gross Rating Points and Target Rating Points along the lines of traditional media metrics, plus CPMs.
Cinemax airs original internet short
Canceled TV shows like “The Critic” have been resurrected on the internet before, but until now, few shows born on the web have made the leap to the small screen. Last night one original internet show did, when a short called “Date Squad” aired on Cinemax. It stars Amanda Peet as the unfortunately named Belkis Felcher, a girl who seems to have a hard time sustaining romantic relationships. In the tradition of makeover movies, the comely Peet gets trussed up in unflattering makeup, hair and glasses. Her sister hires a “Date Squad” to make her over and help her love life, and mayhem ensues. “Date Squad” first aired on Warnerbros.com, home of other online shorts, mostly of the spoof variety, with names like “Britney 2032,” “Exterminator” and “Misson: IMP.”
Purple dino Barney: don't screw with me online
While Barney the purple dinosaur may exude nothing but the stickiest of exuberance on his show for toddlers and their ilk, his corporate owners do not. Dallas-based Lyons Partnership is battling with several Barney parody sites, claiming the sites misuse copyrights and illegally depict Barney in a violent manner. Cease-and-desist letters have been sent to several sites, including "The Jihad to Destroy Barney" and others that allow users to plug Barney with holes from an uzi or a cannon, among other implements. Representatives from the online civil liberty organization Electronic Frontier Foundation claim the lawsuit is baseless, as it aims to suppress sites it dislikes under the pretense of copyright law, which does not extend to satirical parodies, according to the First Amendment. A statement issued by Lyons parent HITS Entertainment fails to address this issue, arguing only that the sites should not be allowed to tamper with Barney in a manner harmful to his two- to five-year-old fans.
March 6, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
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