(This e-mail is being cc'ed to the GIMPS mailing list.) In the December 1 issue of PC Magazine, on your "abort, retry, fail?" page, you have an item under the heading "Rocky Mountain Pi" about Aaron Blosser that is inaccurate, inflammatory, deprecatory and possibly defamatory. Here are the FACTS about the Blosser case, compared with your ARF item: 1. Aaron Blosser did not "hack" into US West's computer system. He was a subcontractor hired by a contractor working for US West. He had full permission to modify US West's computers. Furthermore, he had permission from his employer to install GIMPS software (NTPrime). Unfortunately, his employer did not obtain permission from US West first. 2. The activity took place in May, not in September. All copies of NTPrime were removed months before September. 3. The 10.63 years of CPU time used by NTPrime were IDLE CPU cycles that would have been completely wasted. NTPrime runs at the lowest possible priority -- even a screen saver would run at normal speed with NTPrime activated. The ONLY way that NTPrime could degrade performance would be if it was run on a machine with insufficient RAM, which Blosser will testify was not done. 4. The number pi had nothing to do with anything whatsoever -- but I'll let you get that one on the basis that "Rocky Mountain Prime" isn't as funny sounding. You obviously are very negligent in your research. Merely reading a Denver daily newspaper does not constitute journalism. Aaron Blosser would have every right to sue you for libel. I recommend you visit http://www.mersenne.org for some real information on the subject, and that you print a retraction in next month's issue and on your web site. Sincerely yours, Ross Presser A GIMPS member
