Anyone hear anything recently from that Nigerian guy (or was it gal), the one who needs to park $20,000 (or a little more, or somewhat less) in an American bank account for just a day (maybe an hour) and give you ten percent (or 50 percent or maybe just $1000) in consideration of your assistance (or assistence)? I haven't. But I have been hearing (two or three times a day) from the good folks at PayPal and St. Francis Bank, who are very concerned because there is unusual activity on my account or because my account has been flagged and from the East-West Australia (or is it Astralia) lotteries, the Staatsloterij.nl/International, and the Loteria Primitiva International because they want to know where to deposit my winnings of one million euros, 500,000 euros, and 550,000 euros, respectively.

With a little luck, AOL and Microsoft are about to take the phun out of phishing once and for all. AOL has filed three law suits (total damages sought: $18 million) against three phishing gangs. Anyone in a betting mood? Actually, these ones have teeth: Virginia, not coincidentally AOL's corporate home, has a new anti-phishing law. Moreover, AOL has won similar suits in the past. And Microsoft has filed its own host of suits.

Kind of makes you nostalgic for the wild West, where at least if someone was trying to rustle your cattle you had the option of shooting his horse out from under him. Not that I'd be anything but against shooting horses. - zander