Comments welcome by email. I don't care if you disagree with me but name-calling and cussing are not acceptable. Comments that are just rude and not relevant will not be posted.
The fraudulent e-mail claims to be from the FDIC and informs recipients that their bank account has been denied insurance as a result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into "suspected violations of the Patriot Act."
A formula that would sentence deceptive spammers to more time in prison for each e-mail address spammed is among the proposals under consideration by the presidentially-appointed commission responsible for setting federal sentencing rules.
This article actually isn't about spam at all but since Nigeria = spam in the minds of pretty much everybody online, this State-of-the-Internet-in-Nigeria info makes for interesting background reading.
The stratification of e-mail users, both senders and recipients, due to these Darwinian pressures will be an interesting phenomenon to watch in the coming years. Unfortunately it looks like it'll be pretty miserable for those at the bottom of the pile.
Companies need to realise that email is too mission-critical to be afforded only limited protection and should start examining and evaluating their entire email security infrastructure.
