If I remember correctly it was at Knowledge Technologies 2001. Ann Wrightson explained us, during the informal RDF-Topic Maps session, how to build a semantic virus for Topic Maps, through abuse of subject indicator. At the time OWL and its now infamous owl:sameAs were not yet around, but the idea was identical : if several "topics" A, B, C, ... indicate the same "subject" X, then they should be merged into a single topic. In linked data land ten years after it's the same story : if RDF descriptions A, B, C ... declare a owl:sameAs link to X, then A and B are merged together with the current description of X.
