Page 37 - 200704 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2007

In The News 37 In The News 37 Deluded geek or public Half of French UFOs to emphasize the distinction between studying Deluded geek or public Half of French UFOs enemy No 1? r remain unexplained unidentified flying objects in the literal sense of emain unexplained enemy No 1? the term and the stigmatized pseudoscience of UFO visitors from outer space. Most sightings are simply lights dancing 1,600 cases; France puts three (Continued from Page 35) 1,600 cases; France puts three in the sky, he said in a statement posted on the (Continued from Page 35) decades of archives online space agency Web site, adding he is hopeful the decades of archives online Following his arrest, McKinnon made release of the data may yield new another serious error. Offered a deal which meteorological or astronomical discoveries. would have brought him a relatively light four- For three decades, an arms length "Scientists must absolutely separate the year jail sentence in the US, he turned it down branch of France's national space agency UFO file from the paranormal," he said. "It's an because of concerns about how the trial would quietly gathered reports of strange apparitions subject of inquiry like any other. At GEIPAN, be conducted. in the skies over the republic, from bright lights we regularly collect observations from tangible McKinnon threatened to go public with zig-zagging in the dark night to calls about facts brought to our attention by witnesses in what he had learned. But by his own admission flying saucers. good faith and we attempt to explain what he had collected little information of value and A small team of investigators dutifully happened. In the cases where hypotheses elude says he was "stoned" most of the time he was probed each sighting, and either reached a us, we want to call on scientists to help and online. logical conclusion, or consigned it to enigma. make all our investigative reports available to Infuriated, the US Justice Department Now, after decades under lock and key them to study." appeared to decide to make an example of the in dusty filing cabinets, France went public The vault of the national Library and man they dubbed the "worst military hacker of with its "X-Files" late last month. The Centre Archives Canada in Ottawa contains all time". national d'etudes spatiales decided not only to information from five different departments on All McKinnon can do now is hope that declassify more than 1,600 cases, but to scan UFO sightings and investigations in Canada, the House of Lords rules in his favour. each official page and post it online for all to although the bulk of it can only be consulted in Otherwise, he will be handed over to US see. person. Britain's Ministry of Defence released a Marshals, handcuffed and shackled, dressed in "When the site went live, it was hit by chunk of information last year and Sweden, an orange jumpsuit and put on a plane heading so much traffic it went down almost Italy and Chile have made some data public. across the Atlantic. immediately," said Chris Rutkowski, a co- While many governments have kept By fighting extradition here, his chances ordinator for the Winnipeg-based Ufology their UFO research under wraps or simply of getting bail in the US are virtually Research Centre, noting the popularity of the denied its existence, France has released nonexistent. project. "absolutely all" of its collection to the masses McKinnon admits to being "terrified" at With more than 100,000 documents the for the sole purpose of furthering science. the thought of going to jail but he realises his archives of GEIPAN, the Groupement pour The material is the motherlode for UFO fate is out of his hands. "I won't stand a chance l'etude et l'information sur les phenomenes research, said Mr. Rutkowski, and it will be in hell if I am extradited," he said. "It'll be Gary aerospatiaux non indentifier, contains official interesting to see if countries like the United down a black hole and you won't see him police reports, statements by witnesses to States and Russia follow France's lead. again." bizarre scenes -- even colourful hand-drawn "In terms of real verification of data, or How he must have wished he had diagrams resembling children's artwork. well-investigated, high quality data, there are followed the advice given by the computer to Each incident has been slotted into one very few other examples," he said. Broderick at the end of WarGames. It told the of four categories: definitely solved, likely Chris Matzner, a physics professor at the fictional hacker: "The only winning move is not solved, unsolved for lack of sufficient University of Toronto, said he sees the online to play." information or unsolved mystery. More than archives being good public relations aimed at Hacked off half -- 58% -- of the phenomena investigated by piquing the curiosity of the general public or US student Robert Morris became one the experts remain unexplained while just 9% arousing the interest of school children. of the world's first hackers in 1988. Just five have been definitely figured out. "It's an interesting cultural phenomenon years after the launch of the internet, he set off For example, when two farmers in if nothing else," he said. a computer worm virus that spread to 6,000 Royan came across a 50-centimetre metal Marc Nantel, a physicist at the Ontario networks. cylinder in a field in 1985, GEIPAN launched a Centres of Excellence, said he doubts there is Kevin Poulsen, Ronald Austin and thorough investigation that involved contacting much of strategic or scientific value to be Justin Peterson rigged a Los Angeles radio NORAD about satellite orbits and missile tests. learned in the GEIPAN archives. phone-in to ensure only their calls got through. It was finally determined the two men had "To me what this says is that the French In 1993, they won two Porsches, $20,000 in discovered a piece of Nazi-era war machinery government [agency] said: 'This isn't worth cash and holidays in Hawaii. left behind when the Third Reich retreated. anything. Let's give the people bread and In 2000, the ILOVEYOU virus was sent An explanation was more elusive when circus.' " via e-mail attachment. It deleted programs and GEIPAN inherited a case that had taken place But to those who actually believe there damaged 10% of UK businesses. Just months 11 years before the body's creation. may be proof of alien life contained in France's later Microsoft admitted its corporate network Two children out herding cows in files, the opening of the archives is a "breath of had been hacked and its source code for future Cussac in 1967 came upon a sphere hovering fresh air," in the words of one Canadian Windows products had been seen. over a field with little black beings running enthusiast. Raphael Gray, 19, from Wales, sparked a around underneath. The strange creatures were "It's not right to lie to people and if we global investigation by accessing the details of sucked into the sphere headfirst, which then are in fact being visited by beings from other 23,000 internet shoppers in five countries and flew away moving in an upward spiral pattern. worlds, should anyone be able to keep this posting some on websites in 2001.[] The frightened children ran home information from us?" Nick Balaskas of Toronto crying to tell their parents, who summoned the said. [] gendarmerie. The adults who returned to the scene remarked a strong odour of sulphur that lasted for days as well as burn marks on the grass five metres in diameter. France is not the first country to peel back the layers of bureaucratic secrecy often surrounding the official study of bizarre phenomenon -- though it is the first to make its data so universally accessible. French national space program, is quick