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Some nine Japanese Net users apparently got together to carry out a suicide pact and simultaneously took their own lives at a couple of separate locations.

This flock-mentality is nothing new to our species but it seems that the internet is providing a new vector for both friendly groupings, cybergangs and now even cybercults to meet.

If we also take into account just how stupid and lacking in commonsense many netizens appear to be (just look at how chain emails, phishing expeditions, hoaxes and other things spread), perhaps we ought to be a little worried about the effect that small groups of clever people might have on the greater net population.

One of the things that (fortunately) slows the spread of many cults is the overheads involved in recruiting new members.

Many religious cults train their members to go out and knock on doors, infiltrate youth and social groups, and generally spend much of their time trying to recruit new members.

This is quite time consuming and tends to produce geographically constrained groups that have a limited ability to expand into wider areas.

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Using the Net however, it becomes clear that any "guru" with half a brain could knock up a slick website and market his cult to a massive audience of global proportions.

At low cost and with comparatively little effort, a cult leader could rapidly grow his group into a very significant body that would have a very real virtual and physical presence.

We've already seen examples where this has happened to a very small extent with the Heaven's Gate cult several years ago but I worry that it's only a matter of time before a much larger cybercult starts to swallow up the millions of gullible netizens with an over-abundance of flock-mentality.

The commercial-cults such as the numerous pyramid schemes that have risen and fallen are perhaps the best example of how enticing a good online presence and slick pitch can be.

Given that teenagers are perhaps the most Net-aware and least worldly-wise section of our population, maybe the cybercult threat is a ticking time-bomb.

Telecom's Security
In a follow-up to yesterday's column, no less than three separate divisions of Telecom have now contacted me for information on the security issue I alluded to.

I've already passed on information relating to "how" it is possible to gain unauthorised access to other people's data to one of them and I'll get back to the others today.

It's good to see that they're keen to follow-up such problems and tip-offs in a professional and sensible manner.

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