I have to credit my friend and fellow SQL Server MVP Adam Machanic finding with this one. Check out the URL http://thesource.ofallevil.com/.
Now, a healthy debate is underway among other MVPs as to whether this is actually a Microsoft site or it's a prank or spoof of some kind. My personal bet is that it's a prank.
The real education for me came in the form of different tools used by the MVPs to investigate to site. MVP Juan Llibre points out that http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://thesource.ofallevil.com says that it's owned by Microsoft. But Adam points out that you can put in whatever information you want when you buy a domain. So it could still be a prankster.
Bill Sanderson, a Windows Security MVP, points out that Microsoft considers the site harmless since it's merely pointers that direct back to unchanged Microsoft content. (Bill brought it up through [email protected] and they know all about it.) Bill and Kathleen Anderson points out a URL, http://www.samspade.org/t/lookat?a=thesource.ofallevil.com, that provides some other interesting information about the origin of the website.
Another MVP, Brian Sullivan, pointed out that he could easily set up his own URL that points to another. Since the call is passed through to and answered by Microsoft, it's not officially a spoof. It's more like a legal loophole in the DNS regulations. Finally, the site http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/lookup.ch?name=testificanpointtomicrosoft.meetingbywire.com&type=A seemed to provide the proof needed to satisfy everyone that this was indeed a prank.
So what do you think? Prank, spoof, outright vandalism, or what?
Cheers,
-Kevin
P.S. Thanks to all of the MVPs in this discussion (Adam Machanic, Juan Llibre, Steve Foster, Steve Easton, Brian Sullivan, Paul Neilsen, Bill Sanderson, Kathleen Anderson, Brad Turner, et al) and to Microsoft for being so cool about the URL in question.
