I got a Twitter request today from a Computer Group that I decided not to accept. I told them I couldn't follow them because I'd been bitten by computer groups in the past, and no longer felt safe in their company. I felt sad about this because I love their world.
I love the idea that one man with a machine can fight the baddies of the universe without leaving his bedroom, and I like the idea that these people with skills beyond my understanding can fight for human rights and do amazing things.
It was for this reason, last year, that I wrote a comedy news story about the Lulzsec group. It was a light-hearted comedy story of a type I used to write in support of people I thought were fighting for good causes. My favourite people to write about were rebels on the margins like George Galloway and Julian Assange.
So after I published my story and did my bit for the world, I spent an enjoyable evening watching the Lulzsec group's Twitter numbers go up by the minute...by the thousand. I knew some of them had been arrested and I knew that they had done criminal things but that made it all the more exciting because they were fugitives. I felt like they were on an adventure and it was nice that they were sharing their adventure with the world for free.
And it seemed they weren't the only ones on adventures. After my story hit google news I got twitter requests from a few other people in the computer world. They had funny pirate flags and names of a humorous type so I thought I'd accept their invitations of Twitter friendship. Pirates were, afterall, happy, jolly chaps who liked a laugh. Everyone loves a pirate, don't they. But then I became aware that some of the people I had made friends with had very bad pirate-like vendettas. They were all from rival groups and they hated each other with a passion.
They made accusations about each other and had online fights. They made threats against each others followers saying they could set viruses that could take out everyone's computers overnight. And again I found that amusing...until the next Saturday morning when my computer got hit by a virus.
But not by a normal virus, it was a disabling virus that de-activated my computer systems one by one. First it took out my security. Then it took out my malware bytes programme. Then eventually it un-installed my Microsoft Word programmes. That was the most heart-breaking part of the whole thing because I lost everything. Things I can never replace, like photos of family and friends who are no longer with us, and writing that other people had created and had decided to store on my computer for safekeeping.
Because it was traumatic, and I'm not particularly technical, I have forgotten most of the details of the horror attack but I documented it at the time on my Facebook pages to warn people of the damage that these people had done.
I even phoned a couple of newspapers and tried to tell them what had happened, but the minute they found out I wrote for a Spoof Newspaper they didn't believe me. So they wouldn't put out the message that making friends with pirates was a very bad idea.
But the good thing is, I've learned my lesson now about Pirates, which was why I said "NOOOO" to that request today. But while I was on Twitter today, I couldn't resist having a look at a Twitter account by a famous Lulzsec computer hacker called Sabu. His main message today is "I didn't plant trojans and viruses in my readers accounts".
I tweeted him back saying that I believed him because I never truly believed that Lulzsec had done this to me. But someone did, and they could do it again, unless people are told not to trust computer hackers.
But anyway, that's my cautionary tale told. I got burned because I jumped too quickly into a world that looked like it was populated by jolly japesters but was instead full of sharks.
Don't let this happen to you. Be careful about the friends you choose. Then keep them safe by passing on the message about the Pirates.