A real cutie… flowers, puppies… the works. But the feds claim the sweetheart e-cards created by Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara hid a dirty secret: Loverspy. A keystroke logger that helped the lover who sent it keep an eye on the lover who got it.

Problem is, the receiving lover had no idea s/he was under surveillance. That small oversight could bag our wayward programmer up to 175 years in the ultimate Lonely Hearts Club: a federal penitentiary.

In a world where child molesters do seven years with good behavior, does this knothead deserve 175 years? Doubtful. And it’s unlikely that he’ll serve them… Especially since he is providing a wonderful Public Service Reminder:

Don’t open e-mail attachments, even if they’re from a loved one.

…unless, of course, you’re protected by a top-notch content filtering system that is properly configured (although, despite all the marketing hype, even the best e-mail security systems can make mistakes).

So if you can’t send attachments, how do you transfer files to friends, business associates and loved ones? File Transfer Protocol. Unlike email servers, FTP servers are well-equipped for man-handling large files. And because they’re not necessarily as “real time” oriented, they can afford the luxury of really thorough virus-checking.

If your operation or ISP doesn’t make an FTP site available for file transfers, they should. And if you’re the administrator of a network that doesn’t allow and proactively teach FTP… get busy. Your users deserve better. Your e-mail servers deserve a break, too.

As for Mr. Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara…

He’ll likely have plenty of time to reflect on Love… as well as respect for other peoples’ privacy.

See for yourself at Myway News.