Angry in the Great White North
Stop Iggy!
Sunday, June 11, 2006 at 10:01 PM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
Leader

One thing you have to say about Michael Ignatieff -- he inspires people.

In this case, he has inspired someone at Thunderline Internet Solutions, a website development house in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to create StoppIggy.com, a website dedicated to achieving one goal -- keeping Michael Ignatieff from destroying the world!

I kid you not:

Every Canadian should become involved in the effort to prevent Iggy from becoming leader of the Liberal Party. This is because the reality is that every Canadian is affected by whomever leads the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party is not called the “natural governing party of Canada” for nothing. They have governed for all but a handful of the past hundred years, and every single leader of the party since Sir Wilfred Laurier has become Prime Minister of Canada. Thus, the damage that Igg [sic] can do extends beyond the Liberal Party and potentially to the entire country, and international community.

Yikes! I am freaked out. What can I do?

I wish I could say I added the emphasis, but I didn't. The website actually averages about 50% boldfaced characters.

The person behind this (the registration information says only to contact Thunderline, which is a company run by a fellow named David James) doesn't care who wins, as long as it is not Michael Ignatieff. Even Joe Volpe would be better. Here's the insightful analysis that explains why:

Although we at STOP IGGY know very little about this guy, we are happy he is running because he is NOT IGGY!

Against intellectual titans like these, what chance does Ignatieff have?

Two things of note.

First, there is a page describing how to become a member of the Liberal Party and then how to vote to STOP IGGY! (Sorry, but that phrase is somewhat contagious.) Among the advice given, sign up as many friends and family as possible to help win the vote.

Second, one of the staff at Thunderline in a young man named Justin Davis. Justin was convicted of hacking back in 1998:

A computer hacker in Thunder Bay who virtually shut down a local Internet provider's system was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail. Justin Davis, 19, was convicted of fraud for using a computer decrypting program and two counts of fraudulently using a computer password. Judge F.A. Sargent said NorLink Communications and Consulting was forced to spend thousands of dollars purchasing new equipment after the incident. Judge Sargent placed Mr. Davis on probation for two years and ordered him to make $10,000 restitution to NorLink. Defence lawyer Christopher Watkins said his client believed he was being challenged to break a code to gain entry into the NorLink system. (The Globe and Mail; September 1998)

Now he works for Thunderline. [Actually, this turns out not be true, according to Thunderline]:

Mr. Davis, convicted last May of offences related to illegally obtained passwords he used to gain free Internet access, now hacks for a living, legally, for Thunderline Internet Solutions, a company that tests systems, networks or Web sites to see how hackable they are.

"Most companies are just sloppy when they set up their Web sites. They don't take the time to become aware of how their systems function. Some even forget to set up passwords", he said.

I wonder if the Michael Ignatieff website is sufficiently protected against malicious hacking. Hacking is a bad thing, but to these people, such niceties fall to the wayside if it helps to STOP IGGY!

(Sorry, there's that phrase again.)

By way of a footnote, I can't be certain that the site was actually created by someone at Thunderline. That is an assumption based on the fact that the registration lists Thunderline as the administrative contact. But the site itself looks so basic that I find it difficult to believe it was created by someone who works at website development firm.

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