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Aaaaagh!!!
2

Aaaaagh!!!

Aaaaagh!!!

(OP)
That's me realising that the language is changing so quickly because we let IT Geeks invent words and phrases indeed, create a secret labguage all of their own.

I struggle enough with IT lingo just trying to manage my PC but this finishes me off:

Quote:

Current practice by most botnet herders is to issue commands to their armies of "zombie" machines over IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channels, or less frequently, via instant messaging (IM).
It goes on to suggest that Hackers laundhing DOS attacks will hide under VOIP and be virtually (an overworked word in the modern era) untraceable.

Does any one else get the feeling that language is changing and expanding so fast that one day it will be danagerous to go to sleep because in the morning you won't understand a word anyone is saying?

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

Quote (JMW):

Does any one else get the feeling that language is changing and expanding so fast that one day it will be danagerous to go to sleep because in the morning you won't understand a word anyone is saying?

Not only IT Geek Speak but also those IM/chat abbreviations (lol, CU, l8r, etc).  Is there a name for that "language"?

Speaking of names, another beware-of-IT story:
I recently got married and my lovely new wife is in the process of changing her name.  There were 10 (TEN!) pages of instructions on how to switch over her Lotus Notes account at work, and she hasn't had email access for two days now! You know there's a problem when it's easeier to get the federal government to change your name than it is to change your email addess.  Maybe they should unleash those zombie machines to do some botnet herding...

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

Tell me about it!
I went from 20+ years of mech engineering to IT. Their heads spin when they hear me talk in eng language! Maybe because most IT are Asian or Indian. Their interpretations get mixed and new words are formed :) (nothing against Asian or Indian, joking)

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 10-27-06)

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

Chill out, it's all copacetic.

Twenty-three skiddoo!

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

JNieuwsma,

Yes, there is a name for that language.  It is called leetspeak, and you can learn more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leetspeak

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

jmw,

   The only strange, unexplained word I see in your quote is "botnet".  The people who produced the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) failed to define this word for the simple reason that there was nothing available at the time for it to describe.  

   Computer crackers use automated processes to search the internet for computers that have not been properly secured.  They break into these computers and install remote control programs, usually using automated tools.  Crackers do not necessarily understand how any of this stuff works.  

   These compromized machined are very difficult to trace.  The author of your passage used the word "virtually" in the traditional sense.  I am not sure modern computer types abuse the the word.  A concept like "virtual corporation" is a proper use of the word "virtual", even if the concept is a dumb one.

   Since the computers are no longer completely under the control of the owners, the word "zombie" is valid.  The machines are appropriate for doing stuff the crackers would not want to be observed doing on their own machines, like sending spam, flooding other computers with packets so that their networks shut down, and breaking into yet more computers.  

   The acronyms IRC and IM are defined, and the terms are fairly accurate descriptions.

   You may note that my description of all this is way longer than your quote, even if you edit out my digressions.  The word "botnet" is an efficient way to describe something that computer types need to refer to to each other.

                    JHG

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

botnet - Robot Network.

In other words, it is a network of software robots working together on a common task.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

I am with drawoh.

Language is always evolving. It is only a tool for communication. As long as the intended audience understands the speaker/writer, opinions of others does not matter.

What is "Geek" to some is not necessarily so to others and vice versa.

The language and abbreviations or conventions use on Internet chat and IM are here to stay, like it or not because the people who use them understand it well and that’s all that matters.

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

I also beleive that the burden of making oneself understood is on the speaker/writer and not on the audience. So if someone is not being understood he/she will figure it out sooner or later and revise his/her language.

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

(OP)
Well now, there is another dimension to this.

"Botnet Herders" is far too cute a name.
It is not appropriate for the type of activity these guys are engaged in and the damage they do.

Hackers, spam mailers, virus writers et al are the bottom feeders in the world of computing. I would suggest there is no punishment too harsh for these people, but how do you get the public to regard these people as a serious and deadly meance to our society when they are given cute names.

I think we need some alternate names that are rather less clever so we can get somewhere with prescribing the death penalty or something worse (if we can think of it).

Alternate terminology please:

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

Try these jmw

Boot Byters
Phish takers


FOETS

BEER: It's not just for breakfast anymore

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

I'd use phish poachers, and botnet pirates.  But then, pirates are newly "cute" now, too.

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

Quote:

Hackers, spam mailers, virus writers et al are the bottom feeders in the world of computing. I would suggest there is no punishment too harsh for these people, but how do you get the public to regard these people as a serious and deadly meance to our society when they are given cute names

Somebody hack your system JMV?

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

(OP)
Chris,

Not that I know of but who knows what is out there just waiting to get me.

I get enough junk mail that takes time out of my life and a spam checker that usually dumps legitimate mail into the deleted items folder.

Between 419s, rolex watch ads, stock market scams (which are untraceable), online pharmacies (offering viagra and some other stuff that probably is made from cement... true according to some), and all the sex adverts (they mostly end up in hotmail....) I do get some legitimate emails.

But yes, some hacker got at my IP and replaced everyones home page with a Turkish anti-bush thing which lost a day or two.

In all probability, sooner or later, someone will get into my machine despite all the programs that I run to try and keep it out and which probably account for my machine running slower and slower every week: spybot, AVG, Zone ALarm, Swatit, and who knows what else. Between this and Bill Gates life can get very frustrating.

Figure out how much money these guys cost both in damage done and all the programs needed to try and stop them. This is probably a huge loss of efficiency.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

2
Spam Scabs
Scam Scum
Junk Punks
Phish Bait
Net Pests
CrackHeads
Bandwidth Bandits
Malware Morons
BotSite Shites
Hijacker Wankers

I think I'll stop now ... as my blood pressure gets higher my language is gets lower.

Send the bast&%@#s up to the Arctic Circle in the spring, strip them naked and let the mosquitos and blackfly "reform" them. Then when they're truly repentent, send in the Polar Bears and Wolverines to release their souls. evil

cheers

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

ChrisConley,

   My Linux machine at home got hacked a few years ago.  I logged off the internet and I noted that some process was running like crazy.  It turned out to be...

   # fgrep -ri mastercharge|visa /home

   The hacker started to search my computer for any line of text containing the words "mastercharge" or "visa".  The search was case insensitive.  

   Lesson 1:  I needed a firewall.  I have one now.

   Lesson 2:  I needed to re-install my OS.  I upgraded to the latest version of Linux, probably Red Hat_7.  I can't remember now.

   Lesson 3:  What nifty information is stored on your hard drive, to be accessed by online hackers, or by computer repair people?  Any piece of data that could hurt you, including your credit card number, your bank card, any interesting passwords, any numbers assigned to you by the government, should not be stored on your hard drive.  If you are going to store dangerous information belonging to other people, you had damn well better be good at security.

   Lesson 4:  How good is the security of any website where you have ever left your credit card number or other personal data?  I was connecting to the internet through the telephone, meaning that my system was vulnerable only when I was sitting in front of it.  A server in a technopeasant-run enterprise will not get noticed so quickly.

   In my case, it was not an expensive lesson.  It was time to upgrade anyway.  The credit card numbers I had left on my system were obfuscated enough that the search would not have revealed them, even if I had let it continue.  The obfuscation was not deliberate.  Those numbers are no longer on my hard drive.   I do not feel smug when I install Linux on something and I am asked if I need firewall.  

   How about wrapping them in shipping tape, and sending them via snail mail to some place like Quatar, and leave them on the dock for a few weeks in the hot sun?

                        JHG

   

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

How about something that would actually reform them?  Like a REAL reward for responding to a message correctly within an alloted time?  Then emailing them proof (from a disposable hotmail account) of their errors.

By society ONLY emailing them all the important documents they need such as bills, notices, time and locations they may pick up their paychecks, and locking them up for a period of time when they must conduct ALL business over the internet (home delivery of groceries, medications), setting medical appointments, communications with loved-ones.

...or just tie them by their ankles by a few strands of Cat5 cable to the back of a FedEx van and taking them out for a little body surfing...

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

(OP)
I'm in Singapore right now and I am seeing what the death penalty (for smoking, chewing gum or even just possesion of gum or gum wrappers, and dropping litter does for a society).... so let's send all hackers, spam mailers and other assorted computer misfits to Singapore or perhaps somewhere where they take such offences even more seriously.

(Sorry Singapore, I exagerate, but you know should know how much I appreciate your clean streets and the ability to walk alone anywhere any time of the day or night. Plus you drive on the proper side of the road and you seem to have the safest taxi drivers on the planet.)

Come to think of it, hackers, spam mailers et al should be deported (given rendition flight tickets)to China where they  can take the place of the poor criminals and become organ donors.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

My wife is a high school language teacher and was recently covering for another teacher who had to leave. She was playing games with the kids like:

0
BS
MS
PHD

means 3 degrees below zero

or ALLworld means "small world after all"

Any way, she put up one which was HIJKLMNO which one of the kids immediately interpreted in IM speak. I don't recall exactly what it was but it ended with "just keep laughing my nose off." The point is, the kid was so immersed in IM speak that she didn't miss a beat in her interpretation while it never would have crossed my mind.

If you want to stay up on language, make sure you keep some teenagers in your circle of contacts.

--------------------
How much do YOU owe?
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
--------------------

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

==> HIJKLMNO

That 'H' to 'O' (H2O) which means of course - water.

Note:  Please don't take an understanding to be an endorsement.  I think it's rediculous.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

jmw, wasn't there a case a few years ago of a Brit teenager commiting vanalism in singapore. He got corporal punishment for it and it caused a diplomatic incident!

As far as I was concerned he deserved it.

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

(OP)
Kenat,
too right! and we need to bring back the birch in the UK.
By the time they've had social service reports, family background investigations et al not only has it cost the tax payer a fortune but the child is a hrdened criminal by the time he is 14 without ever having been punished for anything.

Me, I don't care what the excuse is, if you did it you get punished. I was all in favour of the "short sharp shock" concept untill it morphed into adventure holidays in wales or car mechanics classes for joy riders.

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

jmw  -  Hear hear.

Pavlov's dogs treatments.

On the TV this morning there was a report about the effectiveness (or otherwise) of ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, for those that aren't in the UK).

Seems it costs about £3000 (~$5000US) to administer such an order and a typical offender may have three such orders against them. One has 25 !!!
A more effective investment of the cash might be a couple of large coppers and some rubber hose.

Aversion therapy.

Bill

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

I heard the discussion about the ASBOs this morning on the radio. aaargh. When are people going to realise that the people who get these are the people who don't give a toss, they don't care and never will. So breaking the terms of an ASBO is just part or their process of anarchy.
I also think the term ASBO has become some sort of 'badge of honour' amongst these idiots. My suggestion would be to change the name to something like Societies Citizens of Uncontrollable Misfits then see them walk around with the lable SCUM.

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

Well said.
SCUM is quite appropriate.
Unfortunately, the tide of SCUM seems to be rising.

Bill

RE: Aaaaagh!!!

To me, SCUM is already taken. It was an acronym adopted by some students at CSU Northridge. It meant Society of Caucasian Undergraduate Males.

Some of them started to graduate so the group became SCUMBAG: Society of Caucasian Undergraduate Males But Also Graduates

--------------------
How much do YOU owe?
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
--------------------

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