A strange group called BuddyLinks has an Osama game (WARNING: if you click, do not play the game! read on!). The REALLY fascinating thing about the game is that it spreads itself through a virus that sends AIM instant messages to everyone on your buddy list when you play the game. This is why you shouldn't install it. Here's what the IM looks like:

It comes from the screenname of the friend who played it, so it's very credible. I haven't played it (thanks to the Mac for saving me from the world's viruses), but here's how one of my students describes it (several of them have inadvertently been struck and IM'd me):

Interestingly, we built an IM feature into the Dean for Iowa Game that allowed players to send an IM to their friends on any of the four major networks. If the IM was delivered, the player would get a new Dean supporter in the game which they could place. When they placed the supporter, it had their friend's IM handle emblazoned above it. This was a fun way to introduce some disruptive play into the game; if you IM a Bush supporter friend, then you can implicate that friend as a Dean supporter inside your virtual Iowa. Of course, our use of IM was completely transparent, and it was a one-time outbound. And we didn't collect any of the screennames.

According to BuddyLinks, theirs is a legitimate form of social networking. From their website:

I'm guessing that the BuddyLinks people are routing the IM data through their own servers and collecting IM handles which they can later sell or spam. I'll bet that's the real purpose of the game. If you want to uninstall or opt-out, they ask you to send them an email, which is a great way to gather another datapoint to sell or spam later. It's frighteningly smart.

Update: AOL has posted a warning about this IM adware virus.