The latest Angolan fraud letter includes this rather ominous sentence: "The help I need from you is clearing the box containing the funds from the security company, after which, it will be deposited in an account in your name, with my name as next of kin." Hmm. Oh, and speaking of ominous, go read this. I don't ordinarily read Kos, but I ran across a link to this somewhere. He had a substitute blogger who's created a "future history" of 2003. It's subversive, it's naughty, and it's a damned riot.
Continuing in the ominous vein: guess what? You, O American citizen, may soon be subject to INS observation as you enter or leave the country of your birth. That's the gist of a new proposed regulation. Can you say police state? And as long as I'm viewing with alarm, try this one: mass DNA collections are already in use by some police departments (and a national databank has been proposed) in an attempt to help criminal prosecutions.
Posted by Linkmeister at January 4, 2003 12:18 PMYou mean that's a hoax?
Dang it! I was just getting ready to empty out my bank account. Seriously, don't you sometimes think the people who fall for this crap deserve what they get? Yeah, me neither.
In my less charitable moments I do think they do, but then my better self takes over. ;)
Posted by: Linkmeister at January 4, 2003 07:13 PMwhat freaks me out is the huge volume of these scam mails i get. i mean, if people keep doing this so obsessively, it must actually work.
which is just sad really. can you imagine?
Posted by: kd at January 4, 2003 08:20 PMIt's amazing. I get huge numbers at a yahoo address; far fewer (so far) at any of the non-webmail addresses.
I forward them to uce@ftc.gov That's a Federal Trade Commission task force, supposedly.
Posted by: Linkmeister at January 4, 2003 08:30 PMRe: DNA dragnets....
I don't have an issue, per se, with testing an actual suspect. And I certainly have no issue with using evidence from prior crimes if there seems to be a connection (we already do this with fingerprints), but having large groups of people who aren't officially suspects give DNA samples is a bit scary, given margins of error in DNA testing. Hmm. My inner Libertarian just cringed.
Posted by: Jen at January 5, 2003 05:54 AMThat's what I object to, Jen; testing because "it might be useful" down the road scares the hell out of me. The potential for misuse (imagine if that info was accessible by insurance companies when policy-writing decisions were contemplated) seems awful high. That may be far-fetched, but...
Posted by: Linkmeister at January 5, 2003 07:36 AM