Looking For ET, SETI@home Nets Spam

Further confirmation that no good deed goes unpunished: Computer users around the globe who have volunteered their computers to help search for extraterrestrial intelligence are now having a Close Encounter of the Spam Kind. The alien hunters have all downloaded software called SETI@home as part of a massive distributed-computer project to look for deliberate radio signals from space.

"Someone found out how to reverse-engineer the SETI@home program to query their computers for some E-mails and was able to get away with some of them," a University of California-Berkeley spokesman says. "New Scientist" has reported that the hackers stole addresses from thousands of SETI@home users after learning how software on individual PCs communicates with the Berkeley, Calif., central servers.

The SETI@home site acknowledges the hacking with this message: "We have received a few reports from participants who have been sent E-mail that suggests that some SETI@home traffic has been intercepted on the Internet. We are actively looking into this and are taking it very seriously. If you have recently received E-mail that begins 'Dear SETI@home user', please forward this E-mail to [email protected]."

The hacking troubles at SETI@home, which signed up its 3 millionth user earlier this month, have broader implications beyond the quest for ET. As distributed-computing projects continue to proliferate, SETI@home's experience underscores the risks involved.