Phishermen have no shame...

[seawasp]

... Got a spam/Phish message purporting to be from the CDC and asking me to create a "personal vaccination profile" for use in controlling H1N1 spread.

I really wonder how anyone can fall for these things; it's asking for stuff that the Constitution would forbid the government from doing, and all you have to do is mouseover the link to see that it's not going to the CDC, but to some server in another country.

Comments

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't have said "never." I'm certainly not denigrating our Constitution or the lawmakers who respect it, and this government is probably the best out there. All I meant is that the government has blithely ignored and/or twisted the Constitution on many, many occasions.

I am curious about what information the Constitution forbids the government to gather; I can't recall a a similar provision. It's been a long time since I looked at it, though.

[seawasp]

It derives from a number of freedoms in the Bill of Rights, such as "unreasonable search and seizure". When much of your life is dependent on and controlled by information, the government's right to get that information and use it is heavily restricted. It needs REASONS to do so, and beyond a certain point it has to go through quite some work to justify those reasons.

There's also a difference between a *request* for information, which you may freely refuse with no penalty, and a *demand* for information, which you must respond to or be penalized in some way. The phishing message, for instance, stated that you MUST create a profile on their phony system.

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

Huh, I never would've thought that applied; but I see a case could be made for it.