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Infilnews 2, February 1999

How to Infiltrate Europe
Rochester, Kent, England -- Thanks to reader Andy Preece who sent along some clippings related to last month's "The Ultimate Infiltrator" story about the man who crossed who ran the chunnel from Britain to France in the hope of joining the French Foreign Legion.
        The man has been identified as Andrei Matsaev, a 36-year-old dockworker from the Russian port of Murmansk. He entered the UK illegally through Scotland's Shetland Islands, and once on the mainland, walked and hitched his way south until he arrived at England's Folkestone terminal. As for how he made his way into the chunnel, Matsaev is quoted as saying (in Russian): "I walked beside a big lorry, through security barriers, ran to some bushes and sat in them. Then I hid behind a refrigerated truck and under a train. It was easy."
        Matsaev is currently detainee number TC1952 at Kent's Rochester jail and would no doubt welcome letters of support (in Russian).

Cave Clan Turns 13
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia -- On the night of 18 January, the Australian draining group the Cave Clan celebrated the 13th anniversary of its founding on Australia Day, 1986. Around 30 people attended the bash, held in the drain Mini Tenth. According to Melbourne correspondent FiL, "Activities comprised drinking beer, dancing to Grand Master Flash, listening to other music, exploring the drain, setting off fireworks and just talking. The part of the drain where the party was held was painted white, with carpet laid along the flat bottom (out of the water). Squares were painted on the sides of the drain, so that people attending could leave their name."
        Other recent events under Melbourne have included the 3-hour, 10-person Maze End-to-End Without Torches Expo, the 20-person Sloth's Tomb/Great Stairway Expo, and an estimated 150-person dance party held by ravers in Deathstar.

UnderOSU vs. Angelfire
Columbus, Ohio, USA -- Infiltrator The Mad Bomber recently tried to load up his Angelfire-hosted website to find it had vanished without a trace. The UnderOSU site was killed shortly after being mentioned in an article in _The Other Paper_; apparently, Angelfire yanked the UnderOSU site without any notice after receiving a complaint from Ohio State University.
        The sudden and total censorship of the UnderOSU site is shocking, considering the page presented nothing more mischievous than a few basic maps, some nice steam tunnel pictures, and a big disclaimer reading "This site is for informational purposes only! Going into college steam tunnels is a very dangerous and illegal activity. I suggest that you NEVER go down there. I know that I never would. But if you do, I am not responsible for you and your friends when, in an alcoholic state of mind, you decide to explore the tunnels and you trip on a pipe, spill your beer, hit your head, fall down, get burned by steam and get arrested and/or killed," and "Going into the steam tunnels is illegal. You are trespassing! Enter at your own risk! Don't spray paint the walls. If you feel you must mark your way somehow, use chalk. Don't take anything that belongs to the school.... The only thing I would suggest taking is PICTURES!"
        In the words of The Mad Bomber, "The information on my page was simply that: information. There was nothing illegal about it. I didn't even use any copyrighted info."
        A follow-up article titled "OSU Has Tunnel Guy's Web Site Killed" appeared in the 28 January issue of _The Other Paper_ and articles in other papers may be in the works. Perhaps realizing that censoring the site is only drawing more attention to the tunnels, facilities manager Dave Sweet has offered to stop trying to shut down the site if The Mad Bomber will remove any mentions of how to get in the tunnels. In the meantime, UnderOSU is back online at Infiltration.org (http://www.infiltration.org/underosu/).

Urban Adventure Award
Internetland -- Johnathan Littell, webmaster of the International Urban Adventure Site, has established a new award for top quality urban exploration sites. Sites are evaluated in terms of content, presentation, ease of navigation, originality and accuracy. Information on the award, and a list of the winners so far, can be accessed at the International Urban Adventure Site.

Hope you enjoyed this edition of Infilnews! If you have any comments, corrections, questions, suggestions or submissions, please get in touch. In future issues of Infilnews, I'd like to include a column on major construction projects and demolitions going on around the world. If anything interesting is going up or down near you, let me know!

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