| Vol.
I, No. 6 | Sugaring
/ Spring Equinox | Mar.
16th, 2001 |
Puzzling
Evidence . Puzzling
Evidence: True Stories ... It's a strange,
strange world we live, Master Jack. ... So went the
lyrics to a once somewhat popular song from back in the '60's. As the
following evidence suggests, things have not gotten any less strange since then Just
like in the movies ...
Earlier in March, after the Muslim group,
Hamas, had claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in which three
Israelis were killed, a group of hackers decided to take action. They
hacked the Hamas web site and sent all its visitors over to a pornography
site instead. No one has claimed responsibility for the hack.
.
According
to a Reuters release, "Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the
political wing of Hamas, accused Israeli intelligence of being behind what
appeared to be the latest attack in an Israeli-Arab cyberwar on the
sidelines of a five-month-old Palestinian uprising." Yassin later
said Hamas would look to some net consultants to try to block any such
future sabotage.
.
We're not sure what part of this story is
stranger: The fact that the Hamas site was hacked over to a porn site,
which would be particularly offensive to Muslims ... or the fact that an
organization like Hamas has a web site in the first place. {O, brave
new world ...}
. Come again !?! ...
During
the past month, just like most months, we were running a search on the
web. This time, the target was actually a model number from a computer
part. But when we plugged the number in and clicked, we were just a
little surprised by the results. ...
.
As most web surfers know,
search results aren't always immediately intelligible by the short names and
brief descriptions that come up. So you have to open the links before
you really know what you've found ... which is exactly what we did. We
were at least a little disconcerted, however, when the majority of results
for our search for that computer part took us to sites selling ...
armaments.
.
That's right. Arms for Sale. You name it, it
was there. RPG anti-tank rounds & launchers, Rockets, Radar
Antennas, Helicopters, and, one sites apparent specialty, Armored Fighting
Vehicles, including a half-dozen Light Armored Vehicles, five Infantry
Fighting Vehicles, and another half-dozen Main Battle Tanks.
.
I
hadn't seen lists like this since Viet Name. It's probably a good
thing we didn't have a higher limit on our credit card, too. That
KA-25 ASW Helicopter looked like a real commuter vehicle. ...
.
Oh,
yeah. We never did find that computer part. ...
. *******
******* If you would like to submit
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know. Simply e-mail us at puzzles@downstreetmagazine.com.
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reach you. You may also send a copy of your proposed article. The
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time. [See Freelancers
Wanted for more details.] *******
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section, or throughout the magazine, please visit our Advertising
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*******
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