The U.S. State Department offers lot of useful information to Americans via its embassies in almost every country. Especially important is information relating to the safety and security of Americans visiting or living in another country.
When visiting a foreign country you can register with the U.S. Embassy and in case there is a problem the embassy will have necessary contact information and/or permission to release information to relatives or others. To simplify things the State Department now allows you to register on line.
I had registered with the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia a couple years ago. They occasionally send emails, for example expected violent protests around election time. They do not sent many emails, but I usually find them interesting (and possibly useful).
This week, however, I received to emails that I found to be quite shocking! In fact they may impinge upon my feelings of safety and security rather than help protect me. The first email was quite simple. Just an announcement that the Embassy in Bogota had made a website for the consular section. Really, a boring, non useful and even less interesting email.
However, it did...