What does the FBI have in common with Paris Hilton?

They're both making news this week as victims of hackers. (The image is from a conservative humor site. Some of the stuff is pretty good.)

We wrote about Paris earlier this week. (Here's a poem for the occasion. Ahem. I've seen Paris, I've seen France, girl pull on some underpants.)

Now ZDNet reports a new virus comes in the form of an e-mail claiming to be from the FBI. (Not to be undone, Ms. Hilton herself is the subject of a new e-mail virus, called Sober.K.)

As Matt Hines writes, "The mail is disguised as correspondence warning people that their Internet use has been monitored by the FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center and that they have 'accessed illegal Web sites.' The e-mails then direct recipients to open the virus-laden attachment to answer a series of questions."

The FBI insists it "would never send unsolicited messages to the public." That's what we call a non-denial denial. Every communication a suspect gets from the FBI is unsolicited. The virus doesn't claim it's addressed to "the public," but to the recipient specifically.

Of course, the charge isn't specified. "Illegal Web sites?" It's designed to prey on guilt, gullibility, and the growing fear of police in the current era.

In other words, it plays on the FBI's reputation just as the T-Mobile hack played on Paris Hilton's.

Who says hackers have no sense of humor?