News from PANUG - July 19, 2001
http://panug.org - info@panug.org

PANUG's monthly meeting is tonight. The topic is Microsodt's .NET

ADOBE BOYCOTT
Dmitry Sklyarov, a Russian programmer, was arrested by the
FBI for violations of the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium
Copyright Act based on a complaint filed by Adobe. His
crime was enginering a software product that allows users
of Adobe's Acrobat Reader eBooks product to convert this
encrypted format to a plain PDF.
Dmitry was arrested following a speech he gave, while in the
United States, that was critical of Adobe's very weak encryption.

See this web site for details:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/20499.html

A group headed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation is calling
for a boycott of Adobe products. Their web site is:

http://www.boycottadobe.com

The user forums on Adobe's own site (www.adobe.com)
are filling with anti-Adobe sentiment.

ADDING TO THE SPAM LEXICON
by Gregg Berkholtz

A PANUG member asked about the word "murk" that appeared
in the spam list at http://www.znet.com/spammers.txt. This
site, by the way, is not a Ziff-Davis site as a previous PANUG
broadcast indicated.

According to the  Spam Glossary (http://www.rahul.net/falk/glossary.html),
the word Murk means:

(n.) A disclaimer at the end of an email spam assuring you that the
spam complies with Bill S.1618 which makes the message legal.
Also known as a "Murkogram". (v.) The act of sending spam containing
a Murkogram.

The term comes from Frank Murkowski (R-AK), the senator who wrote
S.1618 which would have made spam legal provided it followed
certain rules. In particular, to be legal under S.1618, the spam
must contain full contact info at the start and make no attempt at
hiding its origin.

There are three problems however: First, S.1618 was never passed.
Second, S.1618 would not actually have made spam legal, it would
have made certain kinds of spam illegal. Finally, most spam in
fact, actually violates the provisions of S.1618.

Thus, a Murk disclaimer serves as a sure sign that the message is
spam, and that the sender knew they were doing something wrong.