You've been visiting illegal Web sites
For the past couple of days, my home Internet access has been out. I mention this because, when I accessed my personal e-mail via the Web from work earlier this morning, I had five e-mails waiting for me, claiming to be from the FBI or CIA and claiming I had visited more than 30 "illegal Web sites" within the past day. The letters demanded that I answer questions they had sent along in an attachment.
Yeah.
Sure.
Right.
As if I hadn't already guessed, my Internet service provider's e-mail server already had flagged two of the attachments as viruses.
Eleven years into the Web era, we're still dealing with scriptkiddies who think it's just the height of kewl to write viruses and try to trick people into spreading them. I'm not sure whether we should send these people to prison for the rest of their lives or just let the rest of us slap them around in the public square with mahogany clue sticks.
Also? What, exactly, is an "illegal Web site"? The people who trade in child pornography generally don't post their wares on the Web for just anyone to stumble upon; that'd be one of the fastest trips possible to a remarkably unpleasant correctional experience.
And, for those of you who were wondering, if the feds need to ask you questions, they generally do it in person, not via e-mail.
Don't ask me how I know that. My lawyer says I don't have to tell you.
Comments (6)
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When the CIA starts sending email asking for info, we're all in trouble. I got one of them (AVG filtered out the virus) and laughed when I read the headers. Did a little checking and it wasn't hard to find the originating ISP and then, with a couple of reports, turned the kiddies in. I do not abide spammers, and stupid ones at that. Needless to say, most email filtering services are overwhelmed with a new virus and SMTP attack; emails are delayed as the routers are reprogrammed and email has been, for a few days, very late in arriving if you use a spam filter.
Dante has a circle for spammers.
Posted on November 23, 2005 11:27 AM
I think hard-ball legislation is the only way we're going to manage this problem. We need educated lawmakers who aren't afraid to craft criminal law with some teeth, and we need law enforcement agencies, the FTC, the FCC, and other agencies to get on the ball and start cracking heads.
Posted on November 28, 2005 9:23 AM
And, as it happens, two of the Greensboro area's three members (Coble and Watt) sit on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, where such legislation would be crafted. Fellas?
Posted on December 5, 2005 10:13 AM
Lex,
I still like your public square idea the best. It kinda gives me that instant gratification I don't often see in our legal system. Isn't justice supposed to be swift?
MD
Posted on December 7, 2005 10:48 AM
As an aside: I've had several "offers" to buy my blog recently so you might want to add that to your list of Phishing Scams.
Posted on December 11, 2005 7:27 PM
Offers to buy your blog??
Forget questions of legitimacy -- how would that work, exactly? ;-)
Posted on December 12, 2005 10:48 AM