Paper Tiger

From: spencer_katt@ziffdavis.com
Sent: Monday, August 23, 2004 12:42 AM
To: eWEEK readers
Subject: Digital détente; who spoofs the spoofer

Spencers office seemed emptier than the stands at an Olympic archery event in Athens. “It must be a coincidence that folks always seem to take their vacations around my travel schedule,” rationalized the Rumormonger. “Well, theres only one thing to do when the office is empty,” mused the Mouser. “Grab office supplies!” As El Gato stuffed his pockets with staplers, he recalled a tale from a Tabby tattler who claimed that shortly after Sanjay Kumar left Computer Associates, the facilities folks packed the entire contents of the former head honchos office into a truck and simply showed up at his house with it. The items included some substantial pieces of Italian teak furniture, and Kumar supposedly wasnt thrilled when the truckload of goods showed up at his door unannounced, and the movers asked, flatly, “Where do you want it?” The tattler claims that after Kumar fumed that the delivery wasnt a proper send-off, the goods finally found a home in his garage. “I wonder why he was upset,” laughed the Lynx. “Its every exiting employees duty to take anything that isnt nailed down, no?”

The Furball was shoving some rolls of tape into his jacket when a UPS guy appeared with a package. “Did you hear Costco is now selling coffins through a kiosk in its wholesale outlets?” asked the man in brown. “Hmm, its a good idea if your family dies in bulk, I guess,” cackled the Kitty as he signed for the delivery.

The shrill tone of the KattPhone forced Spence to dig around several packs of pilfered Post-it Notes in his pocket to answer a call from a security-minded pal. The pal pointed out that the Kittys prediction in his March 8 column that McAfee would eventually acquire Foundstone came true last week, with the company formerly known as Network Associates reportedly plunking down $86 million for the vulnerability management group. The pal also claimed NetCracker Technology would acquire a privately held, Moscow-based telecom services company called AVD. “Wow, Ronald Reagan would never believe how the Cold War has warmed up,” mused the Mouser. “Imagine a Russian company joining hands with a U.S. infrastructure management provider that touts the U.S. National Guard in its client list.”

His Hirsuteness was measuring a color copier to see if it would fit in his car when he received a phone call from a pal touting the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policys new “Sue a Spoofer” campaign. The anti-spam groups services include helping a business trademark its domain, Internet forensics to identify the culprits and advice on how to sue the spoofer for trademark infringement. Details on the service, which proclaims to take down spoofers through its “Death by 1000 Papercuts” strategy, are at www.1000papercuts.com, said the pal.

“I imagine that could be a painful way to go,” grimaced the Grimalkin, as he jammed a block of 8.5-by-11-inch paper down his trousers.