Internet shutdown message

[Grace Agnew]

Michael,

On publibnet, they are saying that this is a hoax, much like the "Good 
Times" virus alert.  The version I am seeing says that "the phone 
company" will do this (I'm still trying to figure out, anymore, who "the 
phone company" is?--At&T?  MCI? those "dime a minute" folks???).  What 
about the cable and satellite providers?  I don't 
think there's enough centralized, structured management of the Internet 
to do a shutdown (which might be scarier, come to think of it, than a 
shutdown itself!)  The Mrs Fields/Nieman Marcus cookie recipe remains my 
favorite--at least you got a good (albeit fattening) cookie recipe out of it!

Grace

On Thu, 22 Feb 1996, Michael Watson wrote:

> One of my friends forwarded this message to me from one of his listservs.
> I feel certain that it's a hoax, but was curious to see how widely it has
> spread--has anyone else seen it?
> 
> -Mike Watson
> mwatso at gopher1.library.lsumc.edu 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >*** Attention ***
> >
> >It's that time again!
> >
> >As many of you know, each leap year the Internet must be shut down for 24
> hours 
> >in order to allow us to clean it.  The cleaning process, which eliminates dead 
> >email and inactive ftp, www and gopher sites, allows for a better-working and 
> >faster Internet.
> >
> >This year, the cleaning process will take place from 12:01 a.m. GMT on Feb. 29 
> >until 12:01 a.m. GMT on March 1.  During that 24-hour period, five powerful 
> >Internet-crawling robots situated around the world will search the Internet
> and 
> >delete any data that they find.
> >
> >In order to protect your valuable data from deletion we ask that you do the 
> >following:
> >
> >1.  Disconnect all terminals and local area networks from their Internet 
> >        connections.
> >
> >2.  Shut down all Internet servers, or disconnect them from the Internet.
> >
> >3.  Disconnect all disks and hardrives from any connections to the Internet.
> >
> >4.  Refrain from connecting any computer to the Internet in any way.
> >
> >We understand the inconvenience that this may cause some Internet users, and 
> >we apologize.  However, we are certain that any inconveniences will be more
> than 
> >made up for by the increased speed and efficiency of the Internet, once it has 
> >been cleared of electronic flotsam and jetsam.
> >
> >We thank you for your cooperation.
> >
> >Kim Dereksen
> >Interconnected Network Maintenance staff
> >Main branch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> >
> >Sysops and others:  Since the last Internet cleaning, the number of Internet 
> >users has grown dramatically.  Please assist us in alerting the public of the 
> >upcoming Internet cleaning by posting this message where your users will be
> able -
> >to read it.  Please pass this message on to other sysops and Internet users as 
> >well.  Thank you.
> Michael Watson
> mwatso at gopher1.library.lsumc.edu
> 
____________________________________________________________________________
Grace Agnew
Assistant Director for System Support & Technical Development
Atlanta-Fulton Public Library
gagnew at ce1.af.public.lib.ga.us