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The Evil in E-Mail

Posted by timothy on from the find-what-you-look-for dept.

Frenchy in Ontario writes "An Ontario university researcher is devising ways to help law enforcement agencies better pinpoint likely criminal behavior in e-mails. His theory is that people who are "up to something" are more likely to write differently than people who aren't - either by avoiding using certain words at all that could be flagged for possible criminal context (like "bombed) or to examine patterns that might indicate criminal activity - like several people e-mailing one person but not each other, which is how some criminal networks operate. There's also an interesting paragraph on why Enron's emails aren't as valuable as you might think for this sort of work."

4 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Agreed by MarkusQ · · Score: 5, Funny

    This line in the lead jumped out at me:
    like several people e-mailing one person but not each other, which is how some criminal networks operate.
    We have an addresses "techsupport@internaldomain" which matches this pattern to a T.

    --MarkusQ

    P.S. Back when we were on MS-Windows, it would have been OK, because the people asking for TechSupport were often sending each other worms at the same time.

  2. Word bombs.... by Invalid+Character · · Score: 5, Funny
    Bomd, jihad, kidnap, extort, terrorize, kill, godless, constitution.

    That should keep me safe for a few days.

    --

    --

    Registered .sig quotient : 1337

  3. Re:Big Brother right here by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 5, Funny

    I dont think so. Strongly enforced u.s. export controls have kept the Al Queada from gaining access to militant grade encryption tools.

  4. letter from college home by e**(i+pi)-1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Letter from College:

    Hi Mom,

    I blew it and bombed the final exam. The physics
    prof put the gun on my head and told me to work harder.
    I could kill him. I feel like having a knife
    at my throat. The anger feels like poison in my
    blood but I know it is my fault and the all is
    blamed to that virus, I had been laboring with
    for quite a while. I'm working on it mom! I promise
    to make you proud. I can not wait to be on the subway
    home to work on my final project on weapons of
    mass destruction in my political science class. Its
    mental terror.

    Love
    Your son

    P.S. The powder you sent me works well for my
    skin infection. Strong agent.