The Weekly Round-Up: 29.07.05

"The case is being treated as murder - what else is it going to be treated as? Head massage gone wrong?"

That was one silicon.com reader's response to news that the death of a spammer was being treated as murder after he was found dead in his Moscow apartment with serious head trauma.

He had apparently been beaten several times around the head with a blunt instrument, so our reader is probably onto something when he suggests there's little room for doubt about what crime was committed.

It appears, however, that the attack was unrelated to Vardan Kushnir's spamming activities.

Reports emerging from Russia suggest shortly before meeting his sticky end he had returned to the apartment with a woman he met in a nightclub and two other females.

Russian newspapers suggest he was then drugged and associates of the women most likely arrived to rob him of his possessions. It's believed he woke during the burglary and at that point was attacked.

He had literally ‘had one of those days when you wish you just hadn't woken up'.

However, sympathy for the victim has been thin on the ground with a number of people suggesting a man who was a known and very prolific spammer won't exactly be a loss to society.

Harsh. But fair, say some.

"Let that be a lesson to spammers and would-be spammers, it wasn't murder, it was pest control," wrote one reader who presumably won't be sending a wreath.

What would that lesson be exactly? Don't be a spammer or you might pick up Russian prostitutes, get your house burgled and your head caved in?

But there were those who thought the punishment perhaps didn't fit the crimes Kushnir had committed.

One reader wrote in: "I don't think it's right for us to be happy that a 'spammer' was murdered... spamming is wrong, however, murder is equally wrong."

Technically, to quibble over the finer points of that statement, murder is actually much worse, not as "equally wrong" as sending spam.

The resources dedicated to the two crimes by the police are one indication of that fact.

You'd not hear Taggart saying in his broad Scottish brogue: "There's been a spammer".

Nor would you have prisoners giving a wide berth to the new guy on F Wing who, rumour has it, sent a prolific amount of spam before the authorities caught up with him.

The Round-Up hates spam but given a choice between being spammed or being murdered - sign us up for interest free loans, miracle slimming pills and instant college diplomas.

In the past Kushnir has been attacked for sending spam, though only electronically - never with a blunt instrument about the head.

In July 2003, Russia's deputy communications minister, Andrei Korotkov, became so incensed about the volumes of spam he was receiving from Kushnir's Center for American English he instigated a denial of service attack against the school's phone system.

Korotkov claimed he was receiving 40 emails per day prior to setting up an automated calling system which bombarded the school's phone line with messages urging them to stop sending out illegal email marketing.

Doubtless he's just one of several million Russian email users who won't be taking the day off work to go to Kushnir's funeral.

There was also some more even-handed justice meted out to one group of spammers this week with the arrest in Spain of 310 individuals involved in committing Nigerian 419 scams.

Spanish police and the FBI arrested the Nigerian gangsters, who are believed to have raised around €100m from bogus email scams involving fake lotteries as well as from the trademark 419 scams - those improbable emails which offer large sums of money in need of laundering away from a corrupt government or dishonest bank.

So that's good news. Hopefully they'll be going down for a very long time, though probably not as long as they would do for murder.

While Spanish police have removed 310 people from society, Microsoft has removed considerably more - literally wiping Apple and all its employees off the map.

Microsoft is going into competition with the stunning Google Earth desktop application which allows you to zoom in on any point on the planet from the very depths of space. You can start way out in space and zoom right in on your own home, if you feel so inclined (and let's face it, you will).

Microsoft has now unveiled the MSN Virtual Earth application which does pretty much the same thing using mapping technology and aerial photography. But there is at least one major difference between the two, or at least it's pretty major if you happen to work for Apple.

While the Google version includes Apple's Cupertino headquarters the MSN version has removed it completely, perhaps fulfilling a fantasy of Bill Gates who maybe assumes his powers have now reached God-like status. Or perhaps his take on world domination is more like a giant game of Sim City, or a Silicon Valley version of Risk.

The Round-Up is sure it was just an unfortunate oversight.

But speaking of computer games, unsurprising research out in the past week has revealed that... wait for it... techies are great at video games.

It must be all that practice.

Let's face it, there are few stereotypical techies who would see a computer game and puzzle over 'what new breed of witchcraft is this?', while the Round-Up imagines there are other professions such as university professors, poets, fine artists, French polishers or the Pope who may feel mastery of such trivialities is not becoming of them.

Apparently the five key skills needed to master computer games are decision-making, leadership (are they sure?), quick responses, co-ordination and strategic planning, and techies have these in abundance, apparently.

Rob Chapman, founder of The Training Camp, who compiled this research said: "Traditionally, it's been assumed couch potato 'geeks' are good at computer games because hours of practice is what makes people gaming experts. The profiles prove that in fact, skills developed in the workplace are the key to reaching the highest levels of success."

It's worth pointing out that "the highest levels of success", within our society, is a very subjective thing.

There are the likes of Nobel Prize winners, Olympians and even Oscar winners who probably don't feel as though they are living in anybody's shadow simply because they haven't reached Level 4 of Super Mario World.

The Round-Up is sure Lance Armstrong wasn't stood on the winner's rostrum this week crying inside because he's stuck on the third Tomb Raider.

In fact the Round-Up has noticed a worrying trend of late which is attempting to blur the lines between success at computer games and actual, more worthwhile success in the sporting arena - if we presuppose sport does have some value in setting role models, uniting people and creating a society with goals and aspirations.

Take this recent comment from Ahmad Kholwadia who is apparently one of Britain's most successful computer game players (his parents must be so proud).

Kholwadia told the BBC: "Competitive gaming is a rapidly growing phenomenon that gets bigger and more popular each year, yet there are many sceptics out there who laugh at the mere notion that it can be classed as a sport."

Indeed Ahmad, that is odd isn't it, how some "sceptics" might assume sitting in a darkened bedroom eating crisps and playing computer games is less of an achievement than being able to run faster, jump higher or physically outperform any other person in a set discipline for the enjoyment of millions.

It's strange how these sceptics also assume bragging rights over your mates, because you beat them at Mech Assault on the Xbox, is any less of an accolade than the ability of sportsmen and women to unite whole cities, countries, continents and even the world through a shared sporting ideal.

"People need to look at competitive gaming differently to football, rugby or tennis..." he continued.

Trust the Round-Up here Ahmad, we already do. Don't worry, nobody is going to be mistaking your achievements for those of David Beckham, Johnny Wilkinson or Roger Federer any time soon.

"Competitive gaming is a brand new sport, which may not challenge an individual physically, but there is no doubting its mental challenge," he added, which at best makes it a game - which the Round-Up assumes is why they are called computer 'games' - and we're back to where we started.

But The Training Camp's Chapman is also a believer in the mental capabilities required to outperform others on the console: "Quick reflexes can be gained through constant repetition but it's only when they are used in combination with leadership and decision-making skills that games can be conquered."

And hang on just one minute, the Round-Up has a slight problem with these "quick reflexes", and the aforementioned "quick responses", which make techies so good at computer games.

The phrase "my PC isn't working, can you come and have a look?" very rarely solicits a "quick response".

And possibly aspiring to success at computer games - even if it is in their DNA - isn't something techies should be shouting about.

Already the stereotype of techies is up there for all to criticise without talking about mastery of computer games as being a birth right.

And finally, another unfortunate stereotype associated with technology is the geeky 'boys club' sexism that raised its head in last week's Round-Up, which quoted reader Simon Cox who suggested the women working in technology aren't much to look at, and used that as a basis for arguing we therefore don't need any more cluttering up the IT department.

Understandably - you could even say predictably - those comments drew some fire.

"I'd just like to pass on my congratulations to Mr Cox," wrote Round-Up reader Beverley Eggleton - the name perhaps being something of a give-away that these congratulations weren't going to be heart-felt.

"Not only will he actively discourage high calibre female talent to enter into the IT sector with a comment like that but he's also just advertised to the world what a sexist pig he is."

Don't hold back now Beverley; tell us what you really think, though to be honest you probably lost him with the use of the word "talent" - which is no doubt interchangeable with "honeys" and "totty".

Beverley continued: "It never fails to amaze me that in this apparently 'fast-paced' industry, people still have attitudes like this."

Quite.

"As it stands, whatever we girls seem to do, we just can't win. Look in the least bit aesthetically pleasing and you'll get thoroughly undesirable attention but won't be taken seriously; or fail to measure up to Mr Cox's expectations and you get completely shunned."

The Round-Up feels a campaign coming on - and Beverley is keen to lead the revolution.

"So all the ladies in IT, I'd like to implore you to stand firm and change the way people think around here," she wrote. "I think we should follow in Sir Bob's footsteps and start our own campaign: 'Make IT Sexism History!'"

All we need now is a colour for the obligatory wrist bands.

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