"Your last email," he wrote, "depressed me so much, I went out and tried to kill myself too, in solidarity. So I'm writing this from an ICU I assume is not much different from the ICU you're reading it in."

The authors and runners of spybots, worms, phishing sites, and other forms of identity rip off, had agreed to drop their infantile egoist achievement syndrome which had no higher goal, no higher purpose, and rarely even made money, and contribute all their fruits to a central cause they didn't know the details of, but it DID have the kind of historico-sociologico-psychologico planet-wide goal and higher purpose they all blindly sought unbeknownst to themselves and with no motivation other than human nature making them do it.

"I didn't wanna say ROTC and Ritalin don't mix," he wrote, "but aren't you the near-not-living proof they don't?"

Dear Earthlink Subscriber

Recently, many Internet users including EarthLink subscribers have received fraudulent but highly personal, highly denigrating emails ostensibly from close personal friends, family members, acquaintances, or business associates.

These emails are fake and are part of an internet-wide international social-engineering exploit (hack) which is attempting to mess with peoples' minds rather than with just their computers

Here's an example of how the exploit works:

A virus or spyware on your friend's machine obtains your address from his email address book, and then scans any saved emails sent between you for keywords and bits of information. This information is stored in a central data base and the emails being sent to you under your friend's name have been generated by software which uses this information in derogatory and often obscene ways, designed to provoke anger and humiliation.

It appears now that many millions of internet users are involved, some have been directly infected, but many more are simply the recipients of these emails.

Anecdotal reports from several cities and towns large and small across the US show a dramatic increase in assaults and homicides in just the past 24-48 hours during which time these emails have been circulating.

****************************
TIPS FOR AVOIDING THIS SCAM

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DON'T BE FOOLED!

Verify all email coming from friends, family members etc., especially email that is highly insulting with no reason to be. If possible call the sender immediately.

Once you contact them, if they haven't sent the email you received, tell them to have their machines scanned for viruses and spyware, and to immediately inform all the people in their address book about this scam and to disregard obscene and insulting email sent from them.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: DO NOT RETALIATE and send off emails saying all kinds of vile and ugly (and possibly true) things you may regret later. Things that may permanently damage a lifelong friendship or family or business relationship.

This is possibly the goal of this pernicious hack -- to spread discord among otherwise decent loving people.

Please do not get involved in this potentially huge war of personal retaliation and vengeance on a global international scale.

And to check if your own machine has been compromised, download our free Scam-Guard for only 19.95.

--------------------

Sincerely.

The Earthlink response team

"I want you to understand," he wrote, "I have no qualms about what we did. I have qualms about you having qualms. Because how can you have qualms??!! We both knew it would end up like this -- with people killing each other, with the social fabric of the world shredded -- and we both agreed that this was the only way to do away with hatred and stupidity. To stick it in their face so they had to back off. You agreed it would bring everybody closer together in the end. So why did you try kill yourself? I need to know, because, as I already said, I tried to kill myself because you tried to kill yourself -- so your reason is mine, and if I die here, I at least want to know what it is."

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