Hipcrime (Usenet)

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For other uses, see Hipcrime (disambiguation).

HipCrime refers both to the screenname of a Usenet vandal and software distributed by, and presumably written by, this individual. The name derives from a neologism in the John Brunner SF novel Stand on Zanzibar.

[edit] HipCrime's Newsagent

HipCrime's NewsAgent screenshot

HipCrime's Newsagent^[1] software is a free and open source Usenet control client. The program is written in Java and allows the user to auto-cancel any messages on Usenet based on author, subject, organization, message-iD, or path. It also allows the user to replace the body of any message with text of their choosing. The software also monitors any posts you choose and reposts them if they are removed^[2]. Additionally, it allows regular users to act as Usenet Administrators and create (or remove) entire newsgroups.

CA Inc. has classified this as denial of service software, as well as flooder software, a specific type of denial of service attack^[3].

[edit] HipCrime's ActiveAgent

HipCrime is referred to as "a leading Usenet Terrorist" by James Farmer, maintainer of Spamfaq: Part 3: Understanding NANAE.

HipCrime is also given credit for creating the earliest web-distributed spambot by Andrew Leonard in his book Bots: The Origin of New Species^[4]. This bot, known as HipCrime's ActiveAgent^[5], was a Java applet which allowed anybody with a web browser to send mass volumes of unsolicited e-mail messages. The ActiveAgent has since been expanded into an open source application and is relied upon heavily by the largest e-mail spam gangs.^{[citation needed]}