Hipcrime (Usenet)

HipCrime [ [http://www.hipcrime.com HipCrime ] ] refers both to the screenname of a Usenet user and software application distributed by, and presumably written by, this individual. The name derives from a neologism in the John Brunner SF novel "Stand on Zanzibar".

HipCrime's Newsagent

HipCrime's Newsagent [ [http://www.hipcrime.com/html-hipcrime/new_page/index.html HipCrime's NewsAgent (v1.07) ] ] software is a free and open source Usenet control client. The program is written in Java and allows the user to auto-cancel any messages on Usenet based on author, subject, organization, message-ID, or path. It also allows the user to replace the body of any message with text of their choosing. The software also monitors any posts you choose and reposts them if they are removed [http://newsagent.p7.org.uk/#whatis] . Additionally, it allows regular users to act as Usenet Administrators and create (or remove) entire newsgroups.

CA Inc. has classified this as denial of service software, as well as flooder software, a specific type of denial of service attack [ [http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=54636 HipCrime's NewsAgent - CA ] ] .

HipCrime's ActiveAgent

HipCrime is referred to as "a leading Usenet Terrorist" by James Farmer, maintainer of [http://web.archive.org/web/20040212175535/http://www.spamfaq.net/terminology.shtml Spamfaq: Part 3: Understanding NANAE] .

HipCrime is also given credit for creating the earliest web-distributed spambot by Andrew Leonard in his book "Bots: The Origin of New Species" [Leonard, Andrew: "Bots: The Origin of New Species", Chapter 8. Hardwired, 1997] . This bot, known as "HipCrime's ActiveAgent" [ [http://webpost.net/hi/hipcrime/ HipCrime's ActiveAgent ] ] , was a Java applet which allowed anybody with a web browser to send mass volumes of unsolicited e-mail messages. The ActiveAgent has since been expanded into an open source application (known as "MarketCom's MktAgent" [ [http://hipcrime.com/html-hipcrime/mkt_page/MktAgent.html MarketCom's MktAgent v1.28 ] ] ) and is relied upon heavily by the largest e-mail spam stock pump and dump gangs [ [http://www.marketcom.com marketcom.com ] ] .

Notes

External links

* [http://jmeyer.multiservers.com/NewsAgent.html An early version of HipCrime's NewsAgent]
* [http://www.dansdata.com/sporge.htm Gibbering clones the future of Usenet?]
* [http://www.killfile.org/dungeon/why/hipcrime.html Tim Skirvin's Killfile Dungeon entry on Hipcrime]
* [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.test/browse_thread/thread/7fced518f9727e43 HipCrime: A History in URLs July 1996 - May 1998] and [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.test/msg/2c4053cb8defe137 May - June 1998]

ee Also

*List of spammers