This time around Giganews is an FBI operation (source: cryptome). Last year the CEO of Giganews was running the company for the CIA (source: alt.usenet.kooks newsgroup). Either story would be very disturbing if true. If I believed for one second that either the FBI or CIA story was truthful I wouldn’t have any issue writing about it. In 2009 I wrote about a Giganews employee who posted false reviews and comments to popular websites. In short I’m not a Giganews supporter or affiliated with them in any way. While you’ll probably find the FBI and CIA stories entertaining they just aren’t true. Treat them as you would any other hoax.
Usenet is notorious for famous hoax like the April Fool’s Day Kremvax hoax. On April 1, 1984 Piet Beertema posted that the Soviet Union was going to join Usenet. The post was to have come from Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko. The Kremlin Usenet site was to be named Kremvax. Year’s later Vadim Antonov had a subdomain placed on the first legitimate Soviet Usenet site – kremvax.demos.su showing that the April Fools’ Day prank had a lasting impact.
The Kremvax hoax was funny. It didn’t hurt anyone. It was a harmless April Fool’s hoax. This isn’t the same. The Giganews FBI hoax and last year’s CIA hoax are both potentially harmful to their company and Usenet as a whole. Social media is starting to pick up the story which will likely drive it forward even more. If you believe the information is true then by all means ignore my post. Otherwise please share it so that others aren’t drawn in by the sensationalism of the stories.
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