On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 20:40:03 +0000 Richard Urwin disseminated the following:
> > Let me count the ways... > > Wow. > I think your letter of complaint would probably end up being about three > times the size of the article. Got a reply, guy is obviously up against the wall on this one. My responses to his unrepentant journalistic ineptitude are included: On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 09:45:16 +1100 Garry BARKER disseminated the following: > It is interesting that it has stirred considerable reaction from the Linux > community which, to a man/woman among those who have emailed us, assert that > not a single user/developer of Linux could possibly even imagine doing a DDoS > attack on SCO. I made no such assertion. And if you are getting this kind of reaction, as you say, maybe, just maybe, could it be because you made errors in your reporting, errors that have an affect on the reputation of the Open Source community? > Yet the international press is full of such speculation Exactly. *Speculation*. Your 'article' included this statement: "Hacker activists in the Linux software community have been blamed for MyDoom-A" Blamed by whom? What sources are you basing this statement on? No one has presented one bit of evidence that MyDoom is the product of some misguided Linux fanatic. In fact, there is some evidence to the contrary, as pointed out in the Atlanta Journal article: "Experts say the creation of MyDoom was almost certainly funded by e-mail spammers. The worm takes possession of a computer -- either at a home or one used in business -- and turns the machine into a remotely controlled robot programmed to send spam e-mail messages." > for the perhaps overly simple reason that MyDoom-A carries DDoS bomb aimed at > SCO. *Perhaps* 'overly simple'? Don't underestimate the lack of depth in your reporting, please. > Your example of "how journalism should work" is, of course, selected to > suit your argument, and you are entitled to put such an example forward. You > could also have quoted the Houston Chronicle, but not the New York Times or > the Mercury News of San Jose, nor yet a number of internet security companies > who were making the claim. I have yet to see *one* report from any outlet that portrays the MyDoom situation in as simplistic, skewed, and shallow writing as is demonstrated in your article. Not one I have seen has in any way directly linked the MyDoom worm with indignant Linux hackers. If you would be so kind as to provide actual links, or examples of these 'security companies who were making the claim'. Come to think of it, that would have been a nice addition to your article, not to mention a part of basic journalistic practice. Here are some links I found which do not seem to focus on the 'speculation' about the involvement of the Linux community at all, or which identify it as such, merely speculation, not blame. http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17501941 http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114460,00.asp http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/27/scitech/pcanswer/main596054.shtml -- JoeHill ++ ICQ # 280779813 Registered Linux user #282046 Homepage: www.orderinchaos.org +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Where the state begins, individual liberty ceases, and vice versa." -- Bakunin
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