Can you write me a virus? I've got some great swaps!

This is a real mail message that I received some time ago. Now I know that publicly releasing email without the sender's consent is considered bad, but there ought to be an exception in this case. Is this chap totally thick, or does he just like living dangerously? - in just a few words he manages to encourage both virus writing and (probably) software piracy, compounded by sending unsolicited email with probably forged addresses.

Now one should really complain, at least to his ISP, about this sort of thing. But would it do any good? - look at the Message-ID and X-Mailer below, and draw your own conclusions. The only one I can come to is that some people shoudn't be allowed near a computer at all.

  From: Dusty Irvin <dusty@arn.net>
  Reply-To: dusty@arn.net
  Received: from relay-6.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.5] by keelhaul.demon.co.uk
            with smtp (ANTmail1.15); id sm02bda28; Sat, 11 Jan 97 07:02 +0000
  Received: from relay-6.mail.demon.net by mailstore for jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk
            id 852962491:6:04703:56; Sat, 11 Jan 97 06:01:31 GMT
  Received: from arnet.arn.net ([204.177.232.11]) by relay-6.mail.demon.net
            id aa604669; 11 Jan 97 6:01 GMT
  Received: from c (borger-171.arn.net [204.254.148.171])
            by arnet.arn.net (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id AAA07312
            for <jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk>; Sat, 11 Jan 1997 00:00:00 -0600 (CST)
  Message-ID: <32D72C6E.20CB@hotmail.com>
  Organization: BLAH
  X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01Gold (Win95; I)
  To: jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk
  Subject: Hi
  Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 00:00:14 -0600

  Since you write all these programs, I was wondering if you could write
  me a virus, any kind, just zip it and attach it too some email? will
  trade it for java scripts or applets.  Thanks

  I program java applets and I will program one if you would like

  PS: Coool Page

In a similar vein, although not in quite so many words, is this news posting. He (at least I assume, with a reasonable probability of being correct, that the sender is a "he") doesn't say much, and doesn't even try to forge his headers. But the content (brief though it is) says it all, and does nothing to dispel the bad image that his ISP already has:

  From: astokes512@aol.com (AStokes512)
  Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.programmer
  Subject: programms or virus wanted
  NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder01.news.aol.com
  X-Admin: news@aol.com
  Date: 29 Oct 1998 16:03:17 GMT
  Organization: AOL, http://www.aol.co.uk
  Message-ID: <19981029110317.29909.00001064@ng66.aol.com>

  if you have any programs for basic i could use or how to make a virus please e
  mail me   astokes512@aol.com

And here's another mail, in even fewer words. I was tempted to send back a reply with the single word NO, but then decided that not answering at all would be the best course of action.

  From: robert_carpenter@telstra.easymail.com.au
  Return-Path: <robert_carpenter@telstra.easymail.com.au>
  Received: from punt-21.mail.demon.net (punt-21.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.6])
            by keelhaul.demon.co.uk (8.8.8/8.8.5) with SMTP id GAA01016
            for <jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk>; Sat, 21 Aug 1999 06:53:31 +0100
  Received: from punt-2.mail.demon.net by mailstore for jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk
            id 934846625:20:03684:6; Mon, 16 Aug 99 23:37:05 GMT
  Received: from [192.148.129.77] ([192.148.129.77]) by punt-2.mail.demon.net
            id aa2003497; 16 Aug 99 23:36 GMT
  Received: from telstra.easymail.com.au ([192.148.129.81])
            by o1.telstra.easymail.com.au (Netscape Messaging Server 3.6)
            with SMTP id AAA23A9 for <jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk>;
            Tue, 17 Aug 1999 09:38:13 +1000
  To: jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk
  Subject: email me back with instructions on how to write a virus
  Message-ID: <77279097EE4.AAA23A9@o1.telstra.easymail.com.au>
  Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 09:38:13 +1000
  
  can u email me back with instructions on how to write a virus
  thank you

They just keep on coming, don't they? Here is another:

  Return-Path: <steven@yeehaa.com>
  Received: from punt-21.mail.demon.net (punt-21.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.6])
            by keelhaul.demon.co.uk (8.8.8/8.8.5) with SMTP id KAA00619
            for <jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk>; Sat, 20 Nov 1999 10:09:42 GMT
  Received: from punt-2.mail.demon.net by mailstore for jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk
            id 942893536:20:10705:2; Thu, 18 Nov 99 02:52:16 GMT
  Received: from [208.197.37.10] ([208.197.37.10]) by punt-2.mail.demon.net
            id aa2010444; 18 Nov 99 2:51 GMT
  Received: from mailman.endymion.com (IDENT:nobody@fm.yeehaa.com [208.197.37.10])
            by fm.yeehaa.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id KAA13100
            for <jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk>; Thu, 18 Nov 1999 10:46:51 -0500
  Message-Id: <199911181546.KAA13100@fm.yeehaa.com>
  X-Mailer: Endymion MailMan v2.0
  From: steven@yeehaa.com
  To: jjm@keelhaul.demon.co.uk
  Subject: how to write virus
  Date: Thu, 18 Nov 99 15:46:51 +0000

  Hi,
  my name is steven can u tell me how can i write my owe virus
  E-mail me at steven@yeehaa.com
  reply me as fast as u can 
  Thank you
  tell me how to write virus
  thank you

  Love,
  steven

  For a fast and reliable free email and web site account, go to
  http://yeehaa.com
  Check out our new Yeehaa Autoguide at
  http://yeehaa.carprices.com

Don't laugh. Just think about what will happen when everybody on the planet has access to the Internet.

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Last modified: Sun Dec 5 13:41:59 GMT 1999