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Taking note . . .
Observations about public affairs in the nation's capital
by the editor of The Common Denominator

AFFECTED BUT NOT INFECTED: It’s become known as "The NewsDC Problem" on some neighborhood listservs, and it is a problem that – unfortunately – is beyond the control of "NewsDC" to resolve. The Common Denominator has become one of the unwitting victims of the criminal perpetrator of the W32.Sobig.F@mm computer virus/worm.

Hundreds of e-mail messages, purportedly sent by "NewsDC@aol.com" or "news@thecommondenominator.com," have been flooding local computer in-boxes during the past few weeks to spread the computer virus as an attached file. The messages have included such innocuous subject lines as "Re: thank you," "Re: approved," "Re: that movie" and "Re: wicked screen saver."

If you receive one of these messages, or ANY e-mail message that contains an attached file that you have not specifically requested from "NewsDC@aol.com," please delete the message from your computer immediately. Do not attempt to download or open the attached files. Delete ANY message that you receive from "news@thecommondenominator.com," which is an alias address created by The Common Denominator to receive mail in our offices. We have no current capability of sending messages from this alias address.

These messages are NOT being sent by The Common Denominator, nor are they originating from The Common Denominator’s computers. They are being sent by the Sobig virus/worm, which creates phony e-mail messages from the address books of infected computers to further spread the virus.

The Common Denominator’s computers have not been infected by the virus/worm, but the effect on The Common Denominator has been a nightmare. One neighborhood listserv has even banished The Common Denominator from membership due to the problem – in this case, blaming the victim for the crime. Hundreds of "return" messages, informing The Common Denominator that our main e-mail address has sent a virus-infected message to the recipient, have been flooding our e-mail in-box every day. Some high-powered people have been among the recipients of these bogus messages, including Vice President Dick Cheney.

While it has been heartening to learn that so many people consider The Common Denominator, now in its sixth year as D.C.’s hometown newspaper, important enough to be included in their computer address books, it is also discouraging that some people seem to be blaming The Common Denominator for creating "The NewsDC Problem." We continue to urge recipients of these bogus e-mails with virus-infected attached files – including the managers of neighborhood listservs – to delete them immediately.

Copyright 2003, The Common Denominator