Recently, I’ve been getting shedloads of spam email (or it could be viral email, I suppose) with subject lines like “You’ve received a message from a Schoolfriend!”.

In a way it’s quite a smart way to do things – which makes me wonder why it’s not been done before now – and I suppose it’s a development from the entire “See Anna Kournikova nude” and so on that used to pollute the web. But at least it does make you think “Oh, OK, I might click on that” – well, I can see how it would make people think that. Me, I look at the email and see it’s still purportedly from “Lazarus Matthews” or whoever, and then I know it’s crap. (Although some now come via “FreeWebCards” or somesuch, which adds to the ‘reality’ until you look at the email address itself, rather than the ‘pretty name’ and see it’s from zxc@abc.com or wherever)

Mind you, I’ve still no idea what this particular bunch of spam is advertising or what information it’s trying to get hold of – but I can at least see why people would click on this one in the mistaken impression that someone had emailed them…