Information AboutChain Letter |
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A typical chain letter consists of a s, and the exploitation of Superstition to threaten the recipient with bad luck or even physical violence or death if he or she "breaks the chain" and refuses to adhere to the conditions set out in the letter. Chain letters are capable of Evolution , generally improving their ability to convince their hosts to replicate them over time.1 This sometimes occurs through deliberate modification of the chain letter by a recipient, or sometimes through purely accidental imperfect copying. HISTORY There have been '' Himmelsbrief e'' ("Heaven letters") since at least the Middle Ages. And one could look to the Egyptian Book Of The Dead as a Meme that promised Resurrection to those entombed with a copy. With the development of E-mail and the Internet , chain letters have become much, much more common and quick to spread than when they were transmitted purely by physical mail, although RFC 1855 explicitly discouraged them as a breach of Netiquette . Some e-mail providers prohibit users from sending chain e-mails in their Terms Of Service . VARIATIONS Phones Versions being sent to Mobile Phones via SMS have also become common recently. Web based Chain letters have become popular on MySpace (in the form of myspace bulletins) and Youtube (in the form of video comments). MySpace chain letters are often coupled with intimidating Hoax es. The Katu Lata Kulu chain message on YouTube has been a popular chain message in many videos. The original message states that the spirit of a girl from Africa that was killed would take the spirit of anyone who hadn't forwarded the message. Since the Katu Lata Kulu chain message started, many YouTube video comments had the chain message retold on their video comment page, angering many users to retaliate by creating parody videos as well as messages about the Katu Lata Kulu chain message curse. Some may seem fairly harmless, for example, a grammar school student wishing to see how many people can receive his e-mail for a science project, but can grow exponentially and be hard to stop. They may contain false information, such as the famous "Forward this to everyone you know and if it reaches 1000 people everyone on the list will receive $1000" type e-mails. They may also be politically motivated, such as "save the scouts, forward this to as many friends as possible". Some recent chain e-mails say that a company "will stop its free email service if you don't send this message to X people". Some threaten users with Bad Luck if not forwarded. There are many forms of chain e-mail that threaten death or the taken of one's soul by telling tales of other's deaths, such as the Katu Lata Kulu chain e-mail, stating that if it is not forwarded, the receivers of the message will be killed by the spirit. YouTube and Myspace are sites which frequently gets threatening messages to users, stating that if the chain is broken and the message is not forwarded, the receivers of the messages will face death by the spirit of someone who has died. LEGALITY Chain letters may also qualify under other types of illegal activities, as in the case of a Ponzi Scheme asking recipients to send money and forward the e-mail. They may be harmful, and contain Trojans . In the United States it is illegal to mail chain letters that involve pyramid schemes or other such financial inducements under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1302, the Postal Lottery Statute , though chain letters that ask for items of minor value such as business cards or recipes are not covered by this law. POPULAR CULTURE
SEE ALSO
REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY
EXTERNAL LINKS
Scam chain e-mail
Examples of urban-legend type chain e-mails
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