Talk:TNS 1117 (alt)
This is the longer version of the official news update written by Hans. Tjoneslo (talk) 09:27, 3 January 2016 (EST)
297-1117 Warinir / Daibei[edit]
Calim Yei-jei, the director of the Ministry of Justice's Daibei Sector office, today announced that thanks to many hours of effort by dozens of dedicated ministry agents, the entire group of saboteurs responsible for the invasion of the Xboat information network in 1108, the so-called Ulane hoaxers, was caught and arrested yesterday.
Library data services all over the Imperium such as the Argushiigi Admegulasha Bilanidin, the Encyclopedia Galactica, the TAS Library Data Service, and numerous smaller outfits rely on library updates routinely carried by the Xboats to keep current. When an Xboat arrives at a new planet, these updates are automatically scanned and, if more recent than the data known locally, automatically substituted for the old data. The sheer volume of information makes it impossible to have all new data examined manually. Because of the potential for misuse, security is very strict; the number of institutions with permission to enter new data is limited, the procedure for doing so is subject to rigorous control, and the penalties for misuse are severe.
On 091-1108, unknown perpetrators on Warinir penetrated the security of the Xboat system and introduced a number of unauthorized updates and additions. Worlds were placed around the wrong stars, mysterious plants, animals, and substances were described, bizarre historical events were inserted in otherwise correct timelines, biographies of great men changed in ridiculous ways, and impossible scientific principles explained in great, nonsensical detail.
Although some people were inclined to regard the act-which became known as the Ulane Hoax after the most elaborate fake article, an 83,000-word description of a non-existent interstellar polity-as a prank, the IISS, INI, and MoJ took the affair most seriously and instituted a criminal investigation that culminated yesterday after almost a decade. "This was no prank," Calin Yei-jei stated, saying that "Such wanton acts of disruption strike at the very roots of the Imperium and must be dealt with accordingly."
The hoaxers all face long prison sentences, although one unnamed individual has been allowed to turn Emperor's Witness in return for explaining just how the deed was done. Yei-jei finished off by stating that new and improved security measures assure that such an event cannot happen again.