I called them, and they denied there was a problem. I forwarded the note to them at abuse@capitalone.com. The links in the message were all at capitalone.com, so I don’t think it was a phishing attempt. And I use a unique email address whenever I register somewhere, so I don’t think the phishers could have used it to contact me.

I just did an online chat with someone at Dun & Bradstreet:

Amanda: Hi, how can I help?

You: I just got a strange phone call from someone claiming to be with “D&B”

Amanda: Ok…

You: They were wanting me to provide a credit reference for some business I never heard of, and thought I was some other business I never heard of.

Amanda: So we called you in error?

You: well, someone did. But he wanted my fax and company info to confirm he called incorrectly.

Amanda: Ok, let me check your record.

Amanda: What is the companies name and the state it is in please?

You: he gave me a reference # of ###-###-###

Amanda: Right…BUT you said he was calling the wrong company.

Amanda: So I would check you file to ensure there are no alerts on your file

You: Umm, no. I have no D&B account

Amanda: ok.

Amanda: So what exactly do you need from me then?

You: Am I being scammed? heavy accent, odd phone number, a wrong comapny name – it all felt like a scam.

Amanda: The company affiliated with the Duns number above is: (odd company name) NOV 24 2010 RATING DS

Amanda: Ph: TEL: ### ###-####

You: nope, never heard of them.

Amanda: Well, is the phone number similar?

You: nope! I asked for a number to call back, what number would I have been given?

Amanda: I have NO idea…we are a Global organization.

You: ok, thanks for your help. It really felt fishy, you know? Have a good Thanksgiving.

So, basically, it felt like a scam; but it might not have been one. But asking a wrong number for details about a business that you call as a wrong number is really sketchy.

I’ve gone through the intercepts and created this chart. For each ten minute block of time from 3am on Tuesday September 11th, 2001 though 2:59am on Wednesday, September 12th, 2001, I’ve plotted the number of intercepts, as well as labeled a few of the more important events of the 9/11 attacks.
This is the entire dataset as downloaded from WikiLeaks:

And this is a subset of the pager data, the lines only directing referring to the attacks (added to the post on Nov. 27, 2009 at 9:58am):

So I called the Washington Post (since you can’t cancel your subscription online). Only a couple of minute on hold. I told the representative I would like to cancel, she of course asked why. When I mentioned the TV Week change forced me to look at my online options, she quickly said she would add that to my subscription so I’d keep getting the magazine each week. She seemed honestly surprised when I said I’d prefer to read the online version.

Then she offered to let me keep paying my promotional rate of 49 cents per week. I said, no thanks. Then I asked for a refund of my outstanding issues, she said she would do that, and that’s it. I’ll be getting tomorrow’s paper, then no more.

I hope the editors and publishers at the Post aren’t surprised. It was after all their own suggestion that I look online for the TV listings.

Well, at 50 cents per Sunday, the printed version is a good value. But the equation of value is being changed by the Post. Comics? Available online with a larger selection. TV listings? Online in a custom grid showing only the stations I actually watch. Comments by people interested in an article’s topic? Online. Am I saying the Post should be charging less for the Sunday paper now that they’ve been reducing it’s size? Probably. Will they do that? Probably not. Will they make the weekday issues less expensive as well? I don’t know, I haven’t looked at a weekday paper in months.

Regardless, it’s a chicken or egg situation. Am I canceling because the Post is smaller than it used to be? Is it smaller because the Internet forced the paper to be smaller? Either way, the printed version of the Post won’t be coming to our home next month.

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