Drapetomaniacs

There seem to be more e-mails coming from Tagged.com. "You've been tagged by..." The first one I got was via a mailing list that wasn't set up properly - one where anyone can e-mail the whole group. I then started getting tagged by strangers.

EWeek did a good walk through of how the program harvests your e-mail after it's aggressive presentation to get people to sign on using their gmail or yahoo identity. It then uses that to scrape your e-mail box and send massive amounts of e-mail. I have seen several people now complain after the fact because they weren't aware they gave away their credentials - or at least found a momentary moment of trust where they felt comfortable doing it.

The more bothersome part is that it is a very profitable business targeting teens.

If you have any inhibitions about sending friends invites for new social networks, don't click on "you've been tagged" messages because you won't have much of a choice once you start their sign up process.

Social virus?