Personal attacks on the list

[Samar Abbas]

A very good observation ! The IP addresses translate into :

192.31.86.34 = proxy2a.lmco.com and 204.68.140.34 = proxy1a.lmco.com.

1. Unfortunately, these are both PROXY servers for Lockheed-Martin, which
means that any Tom, Dick and Harry of Lockheed sending emails would have
that same IP address. The fact that there are 2 proxies means there are an
aweful lot of people using them (Hint: Lockheed is a big
corporation). There could be 1000s of computers there using the proxies.
That means that any Dravidian employed by Lockheed when sending mails
would appear to have the same proxy IP.

2. If the default setting of these proxies is still in place ie. `GLOBAL',
any Tom, Dick and Harry not just from Lockheed, but from anywhere in the
world can use these proxies and the emails will appear to come from the
same IP address. Just because the emails come through a proxy server does
not mean that they originate at the proxy server. How ? Check your
Netscape Options or Network Preferences and look under proxies. Just fill
in the correct address and port numbers and there you go ! I can't tell
you which port numbers, because that would waste my quota on this list,
which is not devoted to teaching such tricks.

Proxies are set up with 2 things in mind:
- To protect internal networks from external attacks
- To protect freedom of speech, which is gauranteed to each internet and
email user by allowing persons to connect to the internet through the
proxy, thereby obscuring their place of origin.

3. If Ganesan wanted to do such a thing, there was no need to sign up all
accounts from hotmail. He could have got free email accounts from
www.rocketmail.com, www.mailcity.com, www.excite.com, www.yahoo.com,
www.netforward.com, www.angelfire.com, www.fortunecity.com or any of the
1000s of free email providers out there. To have all people signed up at
hotmail would make things just too obvious.

  Besides, who is to say that Chris Fernandez is not a relative of
Ganesan, who also signed up at hotmail, and allowed Ganesan to send his
emails ?

4. He could also forge his opponents' emails if he wanted using any of the
publicly available forge-your-email servers. That would be more effective
than signing up to many hotmail accounts, and would make a fool of his
opponents in a much stronger way. He could also use a proxy other than, or
in addition to, the Lockheed one, which would effectively change his IP
address to an arbitrary one.

  In other words, since the IP node in question is a Proxy server, the
allegations effectively have no meaning. Nothing can be `proven' from our
detectives' results. However, I must congratulate our detectives for
having discovered this circumstance.
   Moreover, even if these are all one person (something which cannot
be proven) he has only used his freedom of speech gauranteed to him
under the Second Amendment of the USA, and the Internet tradition (which
is not a crime).

Samar