Racist E-Mail Sent With Wrong Name

A racist e-mail message which circulated around the country and around Harvard this month was not written by the University of Michigan student listed as the original sender, according to officials at the Information Technology Division (ITD) at Michigan.

Vincent Allen Krause, who is named on the message as its author, "has made it clear that he did not send the message" and does not agree with its contents, according to Douglas E. Van Houweling, vice provost for the ITD.

According to a press release issued by the University of Michigan, Krause "has expressed his outrage that his name was used to send such a message, and has stated that he does not agree with or support the contents of the message in any way."

The press release also states that "despite a thorough investigation, the sender of the message was never discovered."

The message was originally posted on about 30 Usenet groups worldwide.

If the perpetrator was to be caught he or she would face charges of compute, misuse, said Laurie L. Burns, associate director of the ITD.

Although the lack of a specific target would probably preclude charges of harassment, breaking into the account could carry a penalty ranging from losing computing privileges to suspension, as well as separate criminal charges, according to Burns.

Since being falsely identified as the author of the message, which includes racially motivated threats and offensive jokes and rhymes, Krause has received hate mail and physical threats, said Burns.

The message has been repeatedly circulated by students who forwarded it in order to increase awareness of racism and to urge other angry students to respond. It has been widely recirculated within the last month at colleges including Harvard, Stanford, Bryn Mawr and Tulane.

Dishon D. Mills '97, who received the message, said "I think it's good to keep forwarding it, because it gives people a wake-up call."

"The e-mail was absolutely disgusting," said Mills, "but not entirely shocking."

Houweling, however, urged students to stop spreading the message.

"Our view of this thing is it's extremely noxious," Houweling said. "It would be better for everybody if they didn't continue to circulate it."

According to Houweling the University of Michigan has added security measures since the incident.

John E. Stafford '96, former president of the Harvard Computer Society and a Crimson editor, said that to forge a message is neither unusual nor difficult.

"These types of messages where inflammatory writings are attributed to someone who is not the author are fairly common in the computer community," Stafford said.

Stafford added that although Harvard's server does have more security measures than some, it is hardly invulnerable.

"If you're a hacker," he said, "you can do it at Harvard just as easily as anywhere in the country," he said.