Hackerz

This is too bad and all, but doesn't it give you this cool, Gibson-esque vibe?

In June, a gang in Europe that calls itself "29A" released a virus called Cabir. It spread through Bluetooth, a feature on some phones normally used to synchronize phones and computers. It sends wireless signals up to 30 feet, so calendar and contact information can be updated without hooking devices together with a wire. But Cabir hijacked that function, sending Bluetooth phones on a search-and-destroy mission to infect other Bluetooth phones, spreading the virus.

The resulting virus called attention to itself through a text message that said "Caribe -- VZ/29a." It also drained cell batteries and killed the phone's Bluetooth feature. Members of 29A did not respond when contacted through e-mail addresses posted on their Web site.

Once a virus gets out, it's hard to contain. Cabir was sent to the labs of anti-virus companies but continued to spread. F-Secure said Cabir last month spread mysteriously from those companies' labs to phones in Singapore. Cases have since been reported in the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, and last week in Beijing. There are no known cases in the United States, according to security experts.

For some reason (chain of associations on cyberpunk) this reminds me of this magazine that I saved, for no particular reason, a Cosmopolitan from summer '95. As with so many things, it is actually in storage in Savannah. It had a review of this immediately-cancelled show called "VR-5", in which an earnest starlet explained that "in cyberspace, everyone's barriers are down." Man, that is so true:

"VR.5", or Virtual Reality Level 5, is a region of cyberspace that hobbyist Sydney Bloom (Lori Singer) stumbles into with her homemade VR gear. She discovers by accident that she can draw people into a virtual landscape wherein events can subconscious effect the person's waking behavior, and can reveal information that the person may be hiding even from themselves. Seeking the aid of VR guru Dr. Frank Morgan (Will Patton) she hones her skills, and draws the attention of an invisible security organization, "the Committee", and finds her unique ability to enter the subconscious mind of people over the phone harnessed to the Committee's agenda. To avoid becoming lost in her newfound skill, she keeps the counsel of her childhood friend Duncan (Michael Easton) - part Zen master, part pop-culture maeven. His knowledge of philosophical systems helps to balance her instinctive rooting in technology.

Uuuh, right. Prolly. Further chain of association reminds me that my friend Kara used to have a "Hackers" promotional keychain she got through her music-promoting work. That thing was so cool. We had an ironic, distanced affection for it even before the movie was released. I think the LED died eventually, though, so now she'll never use it to illuminate the path of some dude on a skateboard who's handing her a diskette of contraband information. Well, these youthful dreams have to die sometime.

UPDATE: VR5 episode guide. And Lori Singer fan site. With some pics. I'll presume to grace this post with another I found. Ah, those were the days.

I must say, I enjoyed her performance in Trouble In Mind. [No, you really want to click to see the picture.]

SECOND UPDATE: Dude, that is so fucking weird! I was just thinking about that movie the other day! Because I was thinking of writing a post about how you never see images of women breastfeeding in contemporary culture, even though this is something a woman may well spend 4 years doing, 8 times a day. You can go to a museum and see plenty of Nursing Madonnas, but in pop culture? Nada. EXCEPT, in the movie Trouble in Mind, when the Lori Singer character (notable mainly for resembling Darryl Hannah to the point of copyright infringement) wants to feed her baby in the diner run by hard-bitten wossname, and wossname's like, "hey, not in here", and lets her sit in the back, and that's how they become friends. Dude, we're like soul mates!! We should totally get married!!! I want to have your babies!!!!

Comments

[C Mas]

Dude, I totally remember VR5. It used to come on after X-Files Friday nights. See, on the internet, hackers have mysterious powers and stuff, and hot girls wear glowing lipstick. It lasted a whole season, too. Shows with bottom-of-the-barrel ratings on Fox could do that back then.

[Keith]

I remember VR% as well. pretty cool show.

Did you say you have stuff stored in Savannh? Would that be Savannha, GA? Because I tottally live there!

[belle waring]

yes, kieth, the one and only Savannah, GA, where I was born! my dad lives in Bluffton. someday we'll go there to retrieve our stuff and see my pops...