"You've got gonorrhea!"

As both the Internet and casual sex continue to rise in popularity, e-cards have also seen a rise in use. But the e-cards that connect all of those things aren't your typical "Happy Birthday" with a picture of a cat popping out of a cake; they're aimed at notifying partners that they've been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease or infection.

This is how it works. Sites like inSPOT offer a place for people to send the e-cards to up to six partners—or tricks—in order to inform them that they might have been exposed. The cards can be sent from yourself or from an anonymous source, as to protect your privacy if you're not yet comfortable revealing who you are. inSPOT promises not to log any of your data or report anything to government officials—the site is aimed solely at informing others and helping people find places to get tested.

For now, inSPOT is limited to a handful of US cities (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, and more) and a handful of states/provinces, plus Romania. This is merely to offer those who have received a card to be able to find local information on how to get tested and receive treatment. If you live outside one of those areas, you can still use the site to send an e-card, though the recipient will be on his or her own in order to find further information.

As for the reason why such a thing exists, it's simple. InSPOT director Deb Levine said that inspiration for the site came from the rise in Internet use along with an increase in syphilis among men who have sex with men. She added that research indicated that men exposed to STDs usually failed to inform their partners about it. "They did tell their partners, the people they saw every day, but they didn't take the time to follow up with other people they were having sex with," Levine told the New York Times. "They said to us, 'If there was an easy and convenient way to do it, we would.'"

Of course, using a site like this requires you to know your partners' e-mail addresses, which isn't always possible in this day and age. But when presented with not informing a partner at all versus having the opportunity to do so online, more options are always better. Of course, people who have been exposed to STDs could also take the less couth route by using someecards instead, but that would be... well, not nice.