# Thousands may lose Internet?



## Jetster (Apr 21, 2012)

http://www.kgw.com/news/business/Ma...en-FBI-shuts-down-virus-screen-148307275.html

http://www.dallasnews.com/incoming/...may-lose-internet-in-july-because-of-scam.ece


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## lyndonguitar (Apr 21, 2012)

What the Fuck,.. really..

I'm green though

http://www.dns-ok.us/


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## newtekie1 (Apr 21, 2012)

> "We started to realize that we might have a little bit of a problem on our hands because ... if we just pulled the plug on their criminal infrastructure and threw everybody in jail, the victims of this were going to be without Internet service," said Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent. "The average user would open up Internet Explorer and get `page not found' and think the Internet is broken."



No, most of them would figure out pretty quickly that their computer was broken, not the internet, and take it to be repair.  I make my living of idiots just like this, and have cleans too many DNS redirects and search redirects to count...

Seriously, the FBI should have never set up the "safety net".  All it did was prolong the time people's computers were infected, which likely disabled the Anti-Virus, meaning the FBI purposefulness prolongs the time a persons computer was vulnerable.  If they had pulled the plug right away people would have already taken their computers in right away to be cleaned and this wouldn't be an issue, and people wouldn't have been left vulnerable all this time.  I can't even begin to express how pissed off this makes me that the FBI did something so idiotic that left so many people vulnerable...

I mean their logic makes absolutely no sense.  They said they brought the safety net online to allow people time to clean their machines.  But then in the next breath say most people don't even know they are infected, and won't know until the safety net is taken offline.  So why the F did they put the safety net in place if they weren't going to inform people they were infected?  If they were going to do this, they should have not allowed infected machines to continue to function on the internet, and instead use the DNS redirect to display a page informing the person that their computer was infected and that they wouldn't have internet access until it was cleaned.


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## Jetster (Apr 21, 2012)

And the FBI spent 87,000 setting up servers to delay the inevitable


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## newtekie1 (Apr 21, 2012)

Jetster said:


> And the FBI spent 87,000 setting up servers to delay the inevitable



Not to mention only ~20,000(5.75%) of the infected computers are in the US.  So why are we stuck with the bill?  Just another case of the US tax payer footing the bill for the rest of the world that would just as soon spit in our faces if they had the chance...


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## H82LUZ73 (Apr 21, 2012)

http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/em/ccirc/2011/in11-002-eng.aspx.

My country's web site ,Boy this was huge and the link the FBI gave i was green.yet this site gives out the dns server # that are redirects.You come to think of it ,Would the ISP not have to change this in the first place,Last week my modem shut off for like 2 mins then it turned back on.Could have been Cogeco replacing the bad DNS servers?


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## newtekie1 (Apr 21, 2012)

No, your ISP wouldn't have to do anything on their end.  The DNS addresses used by the redirect are set on the computer, not anything related to your ISP.  You don't have to use your ISP's DNS.


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## Jetster (Apr 21, 2012)

My concern was that it was a phishing scam getting you to give out information


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## petedread (Apr 21, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> Not to mention only ~20,000(5.75%) of the infected computers are in the US.  So why are we stuck with the bill?  Just another case of the US tax payer footing the bill for the rest of the world that would just as soon spit in our faces if they had the chance...



Yeah dam right. America should stop footing the bill and keep it's god dam nose out. Why does America think it can start shutting down websites in other countrys (sopa,pipa)  and prosecute the owners over a American law, isn't american law for america.


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## Jetster (Apr 21, 2012)

All you have to say is thank you


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## newtekie1 (Apr 21, 2012)

petedread said:


> Yeah dam right. America should stop footing the bill and keep it's god dam nose out. Why does America think it can start shutting down websites in other countrys (sopa,pipa)  and prosecute the owners over a American law, isn't american law for america.



Well, if the other countries don't like that the US can shutdown websites in other countries, maybe those other countries should start managing their own domain names and not rely on the US to do it for them.


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## Melvis (Apr 21, 2012)

World wide or just the USA?


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## DannibusX (Apr 21, 2012)

petedread said:


> Yeah dam right. America should stop footing the bill and keep it's god dam nose out. Why does America think it can start shutting down websites in other countrys (sopa,pipa)  and prosecute the owners over a American law, isn't american law for america.



I'm sorry, when did America shut down a foreign website?


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## white phantom (Apr 21, 2012)

wtf lol all seems a bit weird to me, mind you staing in the uk and having no fbi why would i trust them, be fine anyways


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## NinkobEi (Apr 21, 2012)

Seems like a ploy to let the FBI scan your PC. haha suckers


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## newtekie1 (Apr 21, 2012)

DannibusX said:


> I'm sorry, when did America shut down a foreign website?



It was in a news article a while back, I don't know if they actually have done so yet, but basically the FBI said they have the power to seize any domain that is registered with a US registrar, which is pretty much all of them since all but a few of the small the registrars are all based in the US.  So they can shut down any site by seizing the domain.  They can't of course seize assets, such as servers, that aren't in the US, so the site can just be brought back up with a new domain name...


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## FordGT90Concept (Apr 21, 2012)

Yeah...350,000 infected users of 2.2 billion.  I have a hard time caring about the subject matter but as newtekie1, the fact the FBI paid a (or many) private company a fortune to protect against something so minor pisses me off.  And these are the same people that want to police the internet at large. Hell to the no!

Bet most of those computers are still running Windows 9x anyway.


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## Radical_Edward (Apr 21, 2012)

Guess this means more PCs will be coming into the shop. Whatever.


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## qubit (Apr 28, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> No, most of them would figure out pretty quickly that their computer was broken, not the internet, and take it to be repair.  I make my living of idiots just like this, and have cleans too many DNS redirects and search redirects to count...
> 
> Seriously, the FBI should have never set up the "safety net".  All it did was prolong the time people's computers were infected, which likely disabled the Anti-Virus, meaning the FBI purposefulness prolongs the time a persons computer was vulnerable.  If they had pulled the plug right away people would have already taken their computers in right away to be cleaned and this wouldn't be an issue, and people wouldn't have been left vulnerable all this time.  I can't even begin to express how pissed off this makes me that the FBI did something so idiotic that left so many people vulnerable...
> 
> I mean their logic makes absolutely no sense.  They said they brought the safety net online to allow people time to clean their machines.  But then in the next breath say most people don't even know they are infected, and won't know until the safety net is taken offline.  So why the F did they put the safety net in place if they weren't going to inform people they were infected?  If they were going to do this, they should have not allowed infected machines to continue to function on the internet, and instead use the DNS redirect to display a page informing the person that their computer was infected and that they wouldn't have internet access until it was cleaned.



I couldn't agree more. Pull the plug NOW. So what if millions of people are inconvenienced? Their computers are compromised and this is a wake up call. Should have done it then.

Also, I know what you mean by making your money off idiots.  Seriously, these people are clueless. However, while I'm happy to take their money to fix their problems, I don't rip them off, either. I always do the job for a fair price and give them the best advice I can.


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## jgrahl (Apr 28, 2012)

qubit said:


> Seriously, these people are clueless. However, while I'm happy to take their money to fix their problems, I don't rip them off, either. I always do the job for a fair price and give them the best advice I can.




I never know what a fair price is to fix people's PC problems


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## qubit (Apr 28, 2012)

jgrahl said:


> I never know what a fair price is to fix people's PC problems



I just do this in my spare time as an occasional earner. I charge one price for a basic fix, like a broken application, wireless problem etc. Where I need to reinstall the OS, I charge a higher price. If I need to replace hardware, then I play it by ear, depending on what the problem is. Also, I don't charge by the hour, but by the job, as that would rack up the charges and I won't get any business.


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## Kreij (Apr 28, 2012)

The people who own computers and do not know how to repair them are not "idiots".
It's no different than calling someone to repair a broken appliance or taking your car to the shop to have something done.
Sure, a lot of us know how to repair and maintain anything we own that's electronic and mechanical, but that's because we're tech junkies.
Everyone here should be thankful they have a good technical aptitude and not be condescending. You know that there will be times when you call someone in to fix something and they will make you look like a n00b. 

That being said, if people want to pay me to fix their computers I'm happy to obligue.
Just yesterday I got a block of Habanero cheese, a chocolate & caramel cake and a dozen farm-fresh eggs for cleaning the dust out of a computer to solve a minor heat problem.


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## qubit (Apr 28, 2012)

Kreij said:


> *The people who own computers and do not know how to repair them are not "idiots".*
> It's no different than calling someone to repair a broken appliance or taking your car to the shop to have something done.
> Sure, a lot of us know how to repair and maintain anything we own that's electronic and mechanical, but that's because we're tech junkies.
> Everyone here should be thankful they have a good technical aptitude and not be condescending. You know that there will be times when you call someone in to fix something and they will make you look like a n00b.
> ...



I think you miss the point, K. Sure, people's skills lie in all different areas. However, "clueless" doesn't simply mean uninformed. It means people who are just basically stupid in life and tend to screw up their computers as part of that stupidity and can't figure out the simplest thing for themselves (and I mean the simplest). They also tend to be piss-poor at taking advice or instructions from tech support.

In my job, providing IT support, I see the difference between the "clueless" and the "uninformed" or "inexperienced" all the time and the difference is glaringly obvious. The clueless can't even follow the basic instructions I give them FFS.  No wonder they lose our respect and we talk about them in derogatory tones.


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## Kreij (Apr 28, 2012)

qubit said:


> No wonder they lose our respect and we talk about them in derogatory tones.



I think "cash cow" is a better term than "idiot".


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## NdMk2o1o (Apr 28, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> Not to mention only ~20,000(5.75%) of the infected computers are in the US.  So why are we stuck with the bill?  Just another case of the US tax payer footing the bill for the rest of the world that would just as soon spit in our faces if they had the chance...



Footing the bill for the rest of the world? did the rest of the world ask the FBI to do this then did they? or is it just another case of the good ol US of A thinking they own the internet?


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## newtekie1 (Apr 28, 2012)

NdMk2o1o said:


> Footing the bill for the rest of the world? did the rest of the world ask the FBI to do this then did they? or is it just another case of the good ol US of A thinking they own the internet?



Ask, of course not, but they sure will benefit from it while bitching about the US at the same time. And as I said, if other countries have a problem with the US control of the internet they are welcome to start ponying up the money to support it themselves.


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## qubit (Apr 28, 2012)

Kreij said:


> I think "cash cow" is a better term than "idiot".



Oh, you're so cynical.


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## NdMk2o1o (Apr 28, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> Ask, of course not, but they sure will benefit from it while bitching about the US at the same time. And as I said, if other countries have a problem with the US control of the internet they are welcome to start ponying up the money to support it themselves.



I doubt anyone is going to benefit from this tbh, a few hundred thousand machines in the context of it is nothing, not our fault your government spunked your taxes on this, though if it makes you feel better the UK government are just as bad if not worse when it comes to priorities


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## Solaris17 (Apr 29, 2012)

As bad as this is I have to tip my hat to the hackers that did it. That is quite the feat make an underground network that big ya know? same goes to all those people like was it last year? that had like the 3million PC botnet? the best line I can think of actually came from harry potter that wand maker guy put it correctly.

"Lord voldemort did great things. Terrible, but great."


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## popswala (Apr 29, 2012)

You ever think this is a scam just to get ppl to visit that site and click it. Just so when you do gives them a split sec to transfer something onto your pc that'll monitor what your doing and you don't even know it. Sounds like a scam within a scam.


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## Steevo (Apr 29, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> Ask, of course not, but they sure will benefit from it while bitching about the US at the same time. And as I said, if other countries have a problem with the US control of the internet they are welcome to start ponying up the money to support it themselves.



Funny how other countries are already providing "safety" for the whole country and the people like it, but if the US actually prevents infections from spreading and inconveniencing hundreds of thousands they are assholes. 

I agree entirely, if you don't like it use a different DNS that isn't based in the US, setup your own website, or put a sock in it.


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## NdMk2o1o (Apr 29, 2012)

Steevo said:


> Funny how other countries are already providing "safety" for the whole country and the people like it, but if the US actually prevents infections from spreading and inconveniencing hundreds of thousands they are assholes.
> 
> I agree entirely, if you don't like it use a different DNS that isn't based in the US, setup your own website, or put a sock in it.



They wouldnt be using an US DNS if the "badass" FBI wouldn't have taken it upon themselves to get involved and reroute all infected machines. Take care of your own shit before you act high and mighty thinking your the local sheriff


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## jgrahl (Apr 29, 2012)

Would using an IP address fix this problem?  I used to type in those numbers many years ago.


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## newtekie1 (Apr 29, 2012)

NdMk2o1o said:


> I doubt anyone is going to benefit from this tbh, a few hundred thousand machines in the context of it is nothing, not our fault your government spunked your taxes on this, though if it makes you feel better the UK government are just as bad if not worse when it comes to priorities



About 340,000 people outside the US "benefit" from this.  And I'm not saying it is your fault we had to pay, I'm saying that we spend large amounts of money helping the rest of the world, and the rest of the world will happily enjoy the benefits but will instantly complain about how terrible America is one breath later. This isn't the fault of the rest of the world, it is the fault of my own government.  As I said, they shouldn't have wasted money on this, just like they shouldn't be wasting any money at all on anything that benefits other countries.



NdMk2o1o said:


> They wouldnt be using an US DNS if the "badass" FBI wouldn't have taken it upon themselves to get involved and reroute all infected machines. Take care of your own shit before you act high and mighty thinking your the local sheriff




The FBI didn't redirect any machines, the hackers did the redirecting, the FBI just made sure that where the machines were redirected to was actually safe and not a virus filled server like the hackers wanted.  But what Steevo is referring to isn't the FBI and hacker situation, I believe he is talking about is the US control over the Internet that you seem to think isn't the US's right.  In this case, the reason we can have this control over the internet, is because the largest name resisters are in the US.  Something like 90% of all web domains are registered with these registers, in the US.  These are the companies that set the DNS resolution for domain addresses, without them we'd all still be using IP addresses to get everywhere.  So if you don't want your site to be under the control of the US, us one of the register companies that aren't US based.  Of course, 10 of the 13 root DNS name servers are in the US as well, so your domain can still be seized by the US on those anyway so any query against them will return the seizure notice...


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## FordGT90Concept (Apr 30, 2012)

newtekie1 said:


> Of course, 10 of the 13 root DNS name servers are in the US as well, so your domain can still be seized by the US on those anyway so any query against them will return the seizure notice...


Yes, which is why it is so important that we stop Congress from policing the internet.  It won't just be in the USA, it will have global reach.

e.g. pretty sure TechPowerUp is registered in the USA.


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## ShiBDiB (May 1, 2012)

petedread said:


> Yeah dam right. America should stop footing the bill and keep it's god dam nose out. Why does America think it can start shutting down websites in other countrys (sopa,pipa)  and prosecute the owners over a American law, isn't american law for america.



k.. so next time we'll let a virus shut down ur internet.. 

Fuck u


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## D007 (May 2, 2012)

Solaris17 said:


> As bad as this is I have to tip my hat to the hackers that did it. That is quite the feat make an underground network that big ya know? same goes to all those people like was it last year? that had like the 3million PC botnet? the best line I can think of actually came from harry potter that wand maker guy put it correctly.
> 
> "Lord voldemort did great things. Terrible, but great."



I understand your nostalgic feeling about this, but it's not old school, for fun and glory, kind of hacking here.

Key word.. Terrible..
I just find it plain, old, pathetic.. People who can't just go out and make money legally, have to take advantage, of some poor schmucks, who could be working 7 days a week, like I do..
Then they have to deal with being robbed, in ways they can't even understand..
Half of them, might even just buy a new computer, because of it and loose money, that could be paying their rent.

The economy is bottomed out and if that's not bad enough.. We still have to watch out for people, who are so pathetic, they can't even make a living, like decent people. They are just pety thiefs, nothing more.. Robbing hard working people, of the little bit of freedom, they have left, in this Country. It's not bad enough, our government is screwing us, apparently..

I mean dam, use all that "Awesome and terrible power" to change the world or something. Never that, that would be honorable. We all know, there is no honor among theives..

SIDE NOTE: Wow.. I am just saddened by all of the ignorant, hate I see in here. Are any of you really as ignorant and hate filled as you sound toward anouther Country?  
I do NOT classify an entire country based on it's governments actions. Anyone with any sense, what so ever, knows that their government works independently of it's people.. EVERY SINGLE person, deserves to be judged, ONLY by their INDIVIDUAL actions.. 

Saying America is bad or that another country should stop being lazy and police their own S@#!...??? Really? We all know better. Point those fingers where they belong, at the government entities.. And don't for a second, think that every country involved, didn't know about this.. That would also be ignorant and insulting, of your own countries intelligence..

Peace.
Love.
& hair Grease.. ftw..


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## newtekie1 (May 2, 2012)

FordGT90Concept said:


> Yes, which is why it is so important that we stop Congress from policing the internet.  It won't just be in the USA, it will have global reach.
> 
> e.g. pretty sure TechPowerUp is registered in the USA.



I agree, but I'll also add that I think it is more important that we decentralize the internet outside of the US, in multiple countries, and not just in a few countries, but in a bunch of countries.  So that if one goes down, the others pick up its place.


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## a111087 (May 2, 2012)

this is a trick to get you guys visit the site.
the treat is imaginary.


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## D007 (May 2, 2012)

a111087 said:


> this is a trick to get you guys visit the site.
> the treat is imaginary.



Pictures of cookies?
I'm there..


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## phanbuey (May 2, 2012)

NinkobEi said:


> Seems like a ploy to let the FBI scan your PC. haha suckers



Yeah like they would need you to 'let' them lol.


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## qubit (May 2, 2012)

Well said D007, especially the bit below. 



D007 said:


> SIDE NOTE: Wow.. I am just saddened by all of the ignorant, hate I see in here. Are any of you really as ignorant and hate filled as you sound toward anouther Country?
> I do NOT classify an entire country based on it's governments actions. Anyone with any sense, what so ever, knows that their government works independently of it's people.. EVERY SINGLE person, deserves to be judged, ONLY by their INDIVIDUAL actions..
> 
> Saying America is bad or that another country should stop being lazy and police their own S@#!...??? Really? We all know better. Point those fingers where they belong, at the government entities.. And don't for a second, think that every country involved, didn't know about this.. That would also be ignorant and insulting, of your own countries intelligence..


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