Psyops folks fly planes over Afghanistan and Iraq, dropping leaflets to try to influence the folks below. There is a long history of this: scary leaflets for your enemies, friendly leaflets to persuade the populace etc. It is hard for the enemies of the West to do this back, since for various reasons they have a hard time flying planes over our lands to drop leaflets.

However, they could send spam. If I can get spam from Nigerians seeking money or from people enticing me to view kiddy porn, I am sure that Al-Queda could spam me as well. These could be truly terrifying spams aimed at creating terror, or more subtle spams pointing out the transgressions of our governments. The same problems that confound people trying to track spammers now would work to help Al-Queda-contracted spammers avoid detection and consequent bombs.

Such spams might also be a useful tactic for a government committed to unpopular policies - terrifying spam purported to be from AlQueda (but actually homegrown!) might increase fear of the enemy and support for the government.
-- bungston, Jan 27 2006

"The US Government is the Devil! We must take it down for all the Arab nations in the world to prosper! Do what you can, fight back against the global corporate empire trying to take over the world! Also, increase your penis size by up to EIGHT inches!!!"
-- DeliveranceRiverBoatCaptain, Jan 27 2006


I'm not so sure this would catch on with the general population of spam 'forwarders', since in my experience the messages that get forwarded apprently have the power to alter your love lives provided they get sent to more people. Mine are deleted immediately anyway.
-- fridge duck, Jan 27 2006


Is spam allowed according to Sharia law?
-- redsimple, Jan 27 2006


They should probably call it Shpicken.
-- shapu, Jan 27 2006


For [fridge duck]:

"Forward this message to at least 14 people or Burn In Hell You Christian Dog."

Okay sorry, not funny.

Could work the other way round too; the US spamming the Islamic world. "Cheap Viagra! (if you overthrow your current oppressive regime.)"

That being said, I think I like neither version of them, really. But for some reason I'm still going to click "OK" now.
-- Trickytracks, Jan 28 2006


Good idea [TrickyTracks]! Nobody ever reads the small print.
-- hidden truths, Jan 29 2006


[trickytracks]

Why did you press the 'OK' button? I'd rather you hadn't.
-- chocolateraindrops, Jan 30 2006



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