Hacker uses Internet e-mail account to send racist material

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

'The Australian' , on Tuesday October 25, 1994):






        Hacker uses Internet e-mail account to send racist material




CHARLESTON, West Virginia: A college professor in Texas says someone broke
into his electronic mail account and fired off racist messages to about
20,000 computer users in four States.


The message brought death threats and other harsh responses from nearly 500
users who thought it came from Professor Grady Blount, a white professor of
enviromnental science at Texas A and M University.


"My door is locked. We cancelled a class last night and one today will be
moved to another location," Professor Blount said. He also changed his
computer password.


His password was used to send electronic mail messages to 20,000 Internet
users in Mississippi, Wisconsin, Colorado and Texas.


The Internet computer network links colleges research facilities and
individuals worldwide.


The racist message echoes a flier printed by a white supremacist group
called the National Alliance.


It urges readers to send "minority parasites packing to fend for
themselves" and condemns community development funding as support for black
"breeding colonies".


A Texas A and M spokesman, Mr Greg Orwig, said the e-mail address
apparently was picked at random by someone who tapped into the university's
computer system on Sunday.