Conficker

A couple of interesting articles on the Conficker virus here and here.

Basically they've discovered that this particular computer worm, which is creating a linked network of infected hard drives a few million strong, is set to enact something on April 1. What that something is is anyone's guess. People are positing it as an April Fool's joke in the most benign sense, and a concerted assault on the world's computer networks in the most nefarious.

Most likely it is some sort of massive phishing scheme designed to steal loads of money, and that to me would be very disappointing.

The idea of a massive computer hack as some sort of anarchist statement has appeal to me. Whoever programmed Conficker is obviously a genius, and at the absolute cutting edge (I'd even say avant garde) of computer science, fooling MIT, Interpol, the FBI and updating and modifying the virus with rapid frequency so as to avoid detection and prevention. If it all turned out to be a money grab, well, what a waste.

The outlaw is always appealing, and my chaos fantasy is of a tech-crime so prevalent (and non-violent) it shakes the foundations of our slavish dependency on computers. Sort of like a cybernetic Situationist prank.

In all likelihood it will be a techie smash n' grab by some Baltic savants who are apprehended when they try to flush their bank accounts.

Lame.