Masking Console System.in in 1.5 or b4

/*   '\010' <== is the delete ASCII */

import java.io.*;

class EraserThread implements Runnable {
  private boolean stop;

  /**
   *@param The prompt displayed to the user
   */
  public EraserThread(String prompt) {
      System.out.print(prompt);
  }

  /**
   * Begin masking...display asterisks (*)
   */
  public void run () {
     stop = true;
     while (stop) {
        System.out.print("\010*");
  try {
     Thread.currentThread().sleep(1);
        } catch(InterruptedException ie) {
           ie.printStackTrace();
        }
     }
  }

  /**
   * Instruct the thread to stop masking
   */
  public void stopMasking() {
     this.stop = false;
  }
}