April Fool's Day: Standard Text Messaging Rates Apply

The manner in which a prank is pulled on April 1st is not strictly limited to new technology; those who grew up using personal computers and cell phones are a generation that finds a sense of humor in such things given their familiarity with those devices. Furthermore technology provides more elaborate means to prank those who are accustomed to using those pieces of technology.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers dedicated to one goal: the smooth and steady evolution of the Internet. Some IETF members have over the years been responsible for widespread Internet pranks in honor of the first of April. On the IETF’s Web site a section exists for members to post information on the technology that is continually updating the Internet. The section is entitled Request for Comments(RFC).

A pigeon powered Internet is not something many tech-savvy people would find a way to utilize efficiently or even do more than get a chuckle out of it. However keeping true to a tradition amongst some of the members of the IETF since 1989 of posting prank RFC documents in honor of April Fool’s an outlined plan for a pigeon powered Internet was posted in 1990 by David Waitzman, detailing at great lengths the system known as the Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol (CPIP). The RFC 1149 and its sequel RFC 2549 (an article ensuring quality service on carrier pigeon networks) were regarded with such enthusiasm by 2001 that a team of programmers from Bergen, Norway known as the Bergen Linux Users Group managed the feat of transporting data packets by carrier pigeons.

Many modern April Fool’s Day pranks do not require victims to believe what they read or see on their computer monitor but rather be forced to deal with it. Pranks like Upside-Down-Ternet, which entails turning a victim’s Web browser against them in the form of displaying Web pages upside-down. Other pranks like the Firefox Total Confusion Pack Extension change a wide variety of tools and capabilities utilized by Firefox Web browser causing the victim near endless frustration, especially since the pranks that occur do so more frequently as the day progresses.

Computer pranks are not the only modern means with which a prankster may utilize his or her skills. Many Web sites offer ideas for prank text messages that can be sent to a victim’s cell phone. For Example: anontext.com is a Web site that allows the potential prankster to send anonymous SMS messages that can reach up to 120 characters in length. The messages can be sent to any cell phone in the world. The site also offers the choice to remain anonymous or to have the message’s sender listed as an alias of the prankster’s choice. There are Web sites that exist for the less creative-minded prankster with the urge to prank text message a victim. These sites generally follow the same suit: the site allows a user to select a prank or joke text message and have it sent to a victim’s cell phone without having the trouble of creating their own comical script.

April Fool’s Day is a truly timeless holiday. The idea April Fool’s Day is not disturbed or encumbered by the idea of technology. Technology only lends strength and accessibility to the ones pulling the pranks. Computers and cell phones are means with which our society manages rapid communication amongst itself, these devices allow people to be reached and for those who wish to reach out to one another. That idea plays well into the hands of those who celebrate April 1st with absolute devotion when it comes to April 1st, for those who celebrate it the ideal goal is to prank as many victims as possible in the one day that it is accepted without sobering consequences. Because even with technology consistently changing the ways in which the human race goes about its daily lives, the laughter that is sought after on April Fool’s Day will remain an ever present constant.