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1997
In order to clear
out the "electronic flotsam and jetsam"
the Internet would be shutdown for cleaning
- at least this was one of the messages
circulating on the web in 1997. Dead e-mail
and inactive ftps, www, and gopher sites
would be purged according to the email.
The email went on to say, the cleaning would
be done by "five very powerful Japanese-built
multi-lingual Internet-crawling robots (Toshiba
ML-2274) situated around the world."
During this cleaning
period, users were warned to detach all
devices from the Internet. The origins of
this message were said to come from the
"Interconnected Network Maintenance
Staff, Main Branch, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology." This email was reminiscent
of the old phone prank where targets were
told the phone lines would be cleaned on
April 1 and they needed to put plastic sacks
around their telephones to catch all of
the phone dust that may be blown out.
Original Message
- 1996
DO NOT CONNECT TO
THE INTERNET FROM 12:01 AM GMT ON FEB. 29
TO 12:01 AM GMT, MARCH 1 !!
*** *** Attention
***
It's that time again!
As many of you know, each leap year the
Internet must be shut down for 24 hours
in order to allow us to clean it. The cleaning
process, which
eliminates dead email and inactive ftp,
www and gopher sites, allows for a better-working
and faster Internet.
This year, the cleaning process will take
place from 12:01 a.m. GMT on
Feb. 29 until 12:01 a.m. GMT on March 1.
During that 24-hour period, five powerful
Internet-crawling robots situated around
the world will search the Internet and delete
any data that they find.
In order to protect your valuable data from
deletion we ask that you do the following:
1. Disconnect all terminals and local area
networks from their Internet
connections.
2. Shut down all Internet servers, or disconnect
them from the Internet.
3. Disconnect all disks and hardrives from
any connections to the Internet.
4. Refrain from connecting any computer
to the Internet in any way.
We understand the
inconvenience that this may cause some Internet
users, and we apologize. However, we are
certain that any
inconveniences will be more than made up
for by the increased speed and efficiency
of the Internet, once it has been cleared
of electronic flotsam and jetsam. We thank
you for your cooperation.
Kim Dereksen
Interconnected Network Maintenance staff
Main branch, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Sysops and others: Since the last Internet
cleaning, the number of
Internet users has grown dramatically. Please
assist us in alerting
the public of the upcoming Internet cleaning
by posting this message
where your users will be able to read it.
Please pass this message on to
other sysops and Internet users as well.
Thank you.
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