From: Blog Carnival Message Forwarder
Reply-to: ZZZZ
To: Douglas Galbi
Subject: Fwd: Your Uncle ZZZZ
Your Uncle ZZZZ from YYYY says Hello, would like to get in touch with you. Hope you’re doing well. Planning a trip to D.C. in the fall. Would enjoy having you visit me on the farm for a few days.
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From: Douglas Galbi
To: ZZZZ
Subject: Re: Fwd: Your Uncle ZZZZ
Uncle ZZZZ, is that really you, or is this some kind of scam? Here’s a test question: what sort of farming did you like best (I still remember what you told me).
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From: Suzanne
To: Douglas Galbi
Subject: Re: Re: Fwd: Your Uncle ZZZZ
Hi Doug I always did vegetable farming. Last time I saw you was at your uncle F—s’ 50th wedding anniversary. Am going to Maine for a week to see my grandson Scot. Would like to get in touch with you after. Uncle ZZZZ
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From: Suzanne
To: Douglas Galbi
Subject: Re: Re: Fwd: Your Uncle ZZZZ
I forgot, I grow Lilacs. Looking forward to hearing from you. Uncle ZZZZ
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From: Douglas Galbi
To: Suzanne
Subject: Re: Fwd: Your Uncle ZZZZ
I’m a bit suspicious. About twenty-five years ago, when I visited his farm as a kid, my Uncle ZZZZ told me the kind of farming that he liked best is having the government pay him not to grow stuff. I thought that was a great idea, so I decided that I wanted to be a farmer when I grew up. But I couldn’t get land. Still don’t have any land.
Hmm, what are phonebooks good for?
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And that’s the last I heard from Suzanne/Uncle ZZZZ. I called my Uncle ZZZZ and left a message about these emails, along with my telephone number. About a week later, Uncle ZZZZ called my brother and told him to tell me that I was welcomed to come and visit him on his farm.
OpenID and other identity technologies cannot solve these sorts of communication problems. Identity is a social problem. Not having communicated with someone for a long time makes misidentification more likely.