Kremvax
Encyclopedia
Kremvax was originally a fictitious Usenet
site at the Kremlin
, named like the then large number of Usenet VAX
en with names of the form foovax. Kremvax was announced on April 1, 1984 in a posting ostensibly originated there by Soviet
leader Konstantin Chernenko
. The posting was actually forged by Piet Beertema
of CWI (in Amsterdam) as an April Fool's joke. Other fictitious sites mentioned in the hoax
were mosk
vax and kgb
vax. The actual origin of the email was mcvax, one of the first European sites on the internet.
In fact, it was only six years later that the first genuine site in Moscow
, demos.su, joined Usenet. Some readers needed convincing that the postings from it weren't just another prank. Vadim Antonov, the senior programmer at Demos and the major poster from there until mid-1991, was quite aware of all this, and referred to it frequently in his own postings.
Eventually, he even arranged to have the domain's gateway site named kremvax.demos.su, thus turning fiction into truth and, according to one account, "demonstrating that the hackerish sense of humor transcends cultural barriers". Antonov also contributed some Russian language
material for the Jargon File
.
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
site at the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
, named like the then large number of Usenet VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
en with names of the form foovax. Kremvax was announced on April 1, 1984 in a posting ostensibly originated there by Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
leader Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985...
. The posting was actually forged by Piet Beertema
Piet Beertema
Piet Beertema is a Dutch Internet pioneer. On November 17, 1988 at 14:28 hours, he linked the Netherlands as the second country to NSFnet, a precursor to the Internet...
of CWI (in Amsterdam) as an April Fool's joke. Other fictitious sites mentioned in the hoax
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
were mosk
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
vax and kgb
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
vax. The actual origin of the email was mcvax, one of the first European sites on the internet.
In fact, it was only six years later that the first genuine site in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, demos.su, joined Usenet. Some readers needed convincing that the postings from it weren't just another prank. Vadim Antonov, the senior programmer at Demos and the major poster from there until mid-1991, was quite aware of all this, and referred to it frequently in his own postings.
Eventually, he even arranged to have the domain's gateway site named kremvax.demos.su, thus turning fiction into truth and, according to one account, "demonstrating that the hackerish sense of humor transcends cultural barriers". Antonov also contributed some Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
material for the Jargon File
Jargon File
The Jargon File is a glossary of computer programmer slang. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab and others of the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities, including Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Carnegie Mellon...
.