The day after an attempted install of Red Hat Linux failed, I found an e-mail with this subject in my inbox: "For Red Hat Linux, this problem occurs if the server machine has the Linux kernel patch installed for aliasing the loopback device." It's a lot of mumbo jumbo, but I thought since the box was hooked up to the internet, maybe there was some weird automated troubleshooting service. I opened it.

It was like no spam I'd ever seen.

From: "anhyeuvn shipman"
To: ramanujan@geocities.com
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:34:18 +0200

H.u g'e N e'w s To Im_pact C-Y_T-V
Chin.a Y_ouTV C-o r+p..
Symb,ol: C'Y_T_V
We h,a'v*e alrea-dy s'e e'n CY*TV's ma rket im+pact bef+ore climb in*g to o+v_e,r $2.0-0 w-i+t*h n-e'w-s,.
P.ress Relea se:
Ch.ina YouTV 's C nBoo W_e*b S,i't'e Ra,nks N'o,.'1 on Mic_r+osoft L*i.v+e Searc*h Eng*ine
CnBo+o Traffi'c Increas.e-s 4.9-% O v'e_r T*w-o Mon*ths
R*e a*d t*h'e news-, th.ink abo'ut t h_e imp-act, and
j,u_m+p on t+h-i.s fi'rst th.ing Tomor.-row morni_ng_! $ 0.4_2 is a g,i+f t at t,h-i,s price ...,..
Do y_o,u,r h-omewor.k a*n'd w*atch t'h_i*s tr*ade Mo-nday mornin*g.
Luc ius, a_l.l ha+il, Rome'+s gra_c ious g,ov+ernor.
EJclC_-ounterError St.a rtCount St.opCou-nt T.Jcl_Counter.
Oth'er Sis'ters al-ways m-a+d e an attem*pt to l.o,o,k as d.r.a_b as t*h'e m.e_n so as to go l,e s-s n*oticed a+n+d be l.e+s s des_*irable.
T'h*e Rewr+iteLo g d,_irective s e*t*s t_h-e n*a-m_e of t*h,e f,i*l*e to whic_h t-h*e serve*r l+o g,s a_n,y r-ew,riting action s it p_erfor+ms.
E.L O - T_i,m+e - Tr,ack08.

I've seen spam-filter-defeating obfuscated subject lines like "v.i@.gra," but in this case the message itself was almost unreadable, and there were no links or images. Was it an encoded Botnet call to arms? A freak error from a script kiddie? I was able to make out enough of the message to determine that it was some kind of stock shill, but it's so scrambled I can't be sure what stock it's for.

Oddly, that obscurity and the coincidental subject made it the only spam I've opened and read for years.