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italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies Cari colleghi, Perhaps it's just my over-active imagination, or perhaps I'm just being paranoid (but recall the "old" proverb "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you"), but, in reference to the recent posting by our colleague in England, I just wanted to throw something out here for people's consideration. 1) I was recently the victim of identity theft (be very careful what information you share with unknown websites or individuals, especially if your "inner voice" is warning you that it might not be safe--i.e., trust your intuition--sometimes, it can be the best ally you have). 2) a year or so ago, I read an article which described in detail how certain (once again, virtual) individuals were trying to gather articles from academics for marvelous-sounding periodicals which did not, in fact, exist. Why?--this is part of my hypothesis here. 3) even more recently, an individual of the female gender contacted me "out of the blue" by email, praising in flattering terms an article I had written (published in an online journal) and asking permission to cite my article, and also asking me to provide further details regarding my biography. Sensing (one hopes, incorrectly--please do forgive me, signora, if you are reading this--as I said, I have an over-active imagination) that something might be up, I replied in a somewhat vague way, to which she responded seeking more details of my personal biography. Here is what I wanted to put out for people's consideration: Could these things be related? Are all (or some) of these events part of some kind of very clever and subtle "phishing expedition" (to use the cyber-security term) designed to gather as much personal information on as many individuals as possible? If so, what could possibly be the motive? Here, one can only speculate. I know this sounds like something out of a spy novel, but, if one allows, for the sake of argument, that this might be the case, it might be very useful to certain individuals or organizations to construct a rather complete (even down to tiny details, such as one's publication history) "virtual persona" which could then be used (or assumed) by these individuals for various purposes, such as infiltrating academic organizations, gathering information, etc. I know we in general as academics (I know that this is the case for me) like to think of ourselves as dedicated to pure research for its own sake and the love of it, but, once again, if one thinks about it for a moment, having a fake "pseudo-persona," especially if this persona were to move from the virtual to the real world, might be very useful for travel, infiltration, information gathering purposes, etc. As we all know, academics are always traveling, seeing new things, meeting new people, sharing (generally trustingly, perhaps even naively) information--an absolutely perfect "cover" for any of the nefarious activities just mentioned. Ten or fifteen years ago, I remember reading an article which described in rather chilling detail how the "Moonies" (a religious cult run by a shadowy South Korean "pastor," possibly a North Korean or Chinese agent) had actually (and this, unfortunately, is no fiction) managed to penetrate the United States government up to the highest levels, including key and highly sensitive agencies. If then, why not now? I'm sorry to be so long in this posting, but I did think that some of these things might bear thinking about--even if, in this specific case, as I sincerely hope, I'm indulging in idle speculation. Perhaps it is one of the supreme ironies of the internet age that, as technology carries us ever faster into the future, we may have to revert to such primitive means as hand signals or secret passwords to make ourselves known to fellow true lovers of knowledge, and avoid those spioni e maledicenti with various hidden agendas which, with good reason, we, as busy academics with our own work to do, have no need or desire to involve ourselves with. (A proposito, mi raccomando, su questo argomento, leggete attentamente The Snowden Files, uscito recentemente--veramente affascinante!) Jim Ward (e virtuale e reale--o cosi' spero) Berkeley, CA ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe italian-studies YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe italian-studies to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/italian-studies