Virus Warning: Puppies!

Since its creation e-mail has often been a tool used by unscrupulous individuals to wreak havoc on the lives of others. Some send attachments with names like "reallyneatpics.exe" or "verycute.exe" to trick people into executing their malicious code. Others use a feature of SMTP which allows them to masquerade as anyone they like so that they can appear to the receiver to be some reputable institution. They then use this perceived reputation to trick users into visiting web sites that ask for personal information. Most of us are familiar with these tactics and have learned (sometimes painfully) to avoid them.

Recently we have learned, however, that the Parent Corporation is starting to use some of these same tactics with standard or "snail" mail. Franklin Escobedo of Tulsa, OK and Jill Horowitz from Salem, OR have been hospitalized as a precaution after receiving what we believe was a virus sent by the Parent Corporation. The letter they received had a return address of

Your hot frend
339 Bogus Ln
Boiserwq, ID 83702

The first tipoff for the wary is that Boiserwq, while it is similar to Boise, is not actually a city in Idaho, and that "frend" has been misspelled. Upon opening the letter they read a short note, reproduced here:

Dear friend,

I'm so glad we met each other last week in that place you like to go. I know how much you like pictures of cute puppies, so I have enclosed some. Please see the attachment.

XOXO,
Your Hot Friend

Most people at this point would be suspicious about the lack of detail, but our unfortunate victims were careless enough to open the enclosed envelope to see the pictures of the puppies. Unfortunately, there were no puppies. There were only circular disks of paper made from hole punches. These disks were scattered around the room when they opened the pouch, sending our victims into a panic. They did call emergency services and after the cleanup were taken to the hospital and put in quarantine. We haven't as yet found anything nefarious on the disks, but we are treating this as a virus until we can thoroughly analyze the disks to ensure that they will not be made part of a botnet or have their personal info stolen, or perhaps have their memories corrupted.

At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not disturbed about this new attack by the Parent Corporation, and we urge our supporters to resist the urge to look at cute pictures of puppies.