Spammer Ducks For Cover

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Posted by michael on Monday August 18, 2003 @12:24PM from the everyone-loves-spam dept.

rabidgremlin writes "The New Zealand Herald has an article about a NZ based spammer who has shut up shop after being at the receiving end of an anti-spam campaign. Good riddance I say, but some of his comments ("never intended to break any regulations" and "I'll just stick to search engines and web sites - that's still plenty of fun and money.") had me wondering if he and other spammers are as really naive as the article makes out."

32 of 363 comments (clear)

yeah... by edrugtrader · 2003-08-18 12:27 · Score: 3, Funny

and how does this guy plan on marketing his new websites?

"well, i figure i'll just use my vast email lists and invite everyone to check them out... that can't be illegal, can it?"

--
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
1. Re:yeah... by karnal · 2003-08-18 12:42 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Quote:
  
  that can't be illegal, can it?"
  
  --
  WANT TO BUY ILLEGAL DRUGS ONLINE? - EDRUGTRADER.COM! [edrugtrader.com]
  
  Wow.
  
  **lameness filter bypass**
  
  --
  Karnal
20 phone calls? by Champaign · 2003-08-18 12:28 · Score: 5, Funny

Wow, the guys sends millions of e-mail messages, then he closes up shop after getting 20 unsolicited phone calls.

Guess that's what you call "can dish it out, can't take it"...
1. Re:20 phone calls? by imnoteddy · 2003-08-18 13:56 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  If even a tiny group of all the people who receive spam would give feedback by making a phone call, I think it could make many spammers to reconsider their business.
  
  I have an email filter rule that looks for toll-free numbers and puts them in a folder. Every morning I call the (usually 2 or 3) that have come in the last 24 hours and say politely, "I got your email about (whatever) and just wanted to let you know I'm not interested" and then hang up. No abuse, just waste their time and probably confuse them.
  
  --
  No electrons were harmed creating this post, though some may have been subjected to electrical and/or magnetic fields.
2. Re:20 phone calls? by optikSmoke · 2003-08-18 15:34 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Hello, this is [insert telco here]. You have a collect call from EAT MY DICK YOU COCKFACE SPAMMER. Press 1 to accept the charges now.
  
  Excellent.....
3. Re:20 phone calls? by Steve+B · 2003-08-18 15:37 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  A spammer might not take phone calls seriously enough. That's why I'd prefer to a put a horse's head in his bed.
  At which point the bed would contain an entire horse.
  
  --
  /. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
what a maroon by Jafafa+Hots · 2003-08-18 12:28 · Score: 4, Funny

"Mr Atkinson said that on a good day he and his associates would send out 100 million messages."

"he had received more than 20 phone calls, five of them obscene"

oh for shame. 20 phone calls. some of them obscene! Good golly, why should the poor man have his time wasted in such a way? :rolleyes:

--
This space available.
1. Re:what a maroon by wo1verin3 · 2003-08-18 12:35 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  >> "he had received more than 20 phone calls,
  >> five of them obscene"
  
  According to our records Mr Atkinson had choosen to opt-in on recieving such telephone communications, if he wishes to be removed please have him send an e-mail to an address that doesn't exist at someone elses organization.
Oh, this is so NOT a good idea . . . by Brad+Cossette · 2003-08-18 12:31 · Score: 5, Funny

You realize, Mr. Atkinson, that by backing off now you're encouraging us to continue this kind of behavior on other spammers . . .

In a truely please-don't-blink moment, the man who claimed to send out 100 million messages a day on such wonderful things as penis-enlarging pills complains about receiving 5 obscene phone calls . . . they were probably just disappointed customers. ;)

--
-- "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" [Oscar Wilde]
I can help... by Erik_the_Awful · 2003-08-18 12:41 · Score: 3, Funny

...if only someone would post Shane Atkinson's Address and Phone Number. I don't think 20 phone calls is enough. I think Shane Atkinson needs to experience the power of "internet karma..."

I'll be watching for any details you might post.
-EtA
1. Re:I can help... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-08-18 15:42 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  I realise all you judeochristian types swallowed all that eye-for-an-eye stuff long ago, but telephone harassment is still illegal. My understanding is that if you make long harassing calls to people in NZ or Australia, you end up being publicly punished in some way, possibly involving a large boot. Doesn't seem worth it to me.
Re:Booo-hooo by Anonym0us+Cow+Herd · 2003-08-18 12:43 · Score: 3, Funny

My 10 year old (5th grade) has had an e-mail address for several years.

--
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
But on the bright side... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-08-18 12:48 · Score: 2, Funny

...this guy must have the biggest penis in the world.
Somebody, please by Gherald · 2003-08-18 12:54 · Score: 5, Funny

Post his e-mail address and phone number!

No really, this is for legitemate business. I represent a major supplier of penis enlargment pills, and I just want to offer him my company's services.... ten thousand times per day.

--
The unofficial /. digest
Personally by Hal+The+Computer · 2003-08-18 12:58 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm not worried about Artificial Intelligence, when they invent Artificial Stupidiy, then I'll be scared.

--
int main(void){int x=01232;while(malloc(x));return x;}
what if people actually start spamming by by snkmoorthy · 2003-08-18 13:09 · Score: 2, Funny

subscribing after getting the following: The Ultimate Bulk Email Solution Has Finally Arrived! If you have a product, service, information or a message you would like to get out to millions of potential buyers, then this is the only way to go. No other form of marketing can compare. You may already have a web site. If you do, then you know that search engine submissions don't work and paying for an Internet classified ad doesn't work either. Also, if you are already sending email messages, but are having trouble keeping an email connection, then your troubles ar over! The answer is....EMAIL BOMBER! THE NEW HIGHSPEED UNTRACABLE EMAIL RELAY NETWORK! Look below at the many features "Email Bomber" has to offer..... >SEND OVER 150,000 EMAILS AN HOUR WITH A 28.8 MODEM! (Sends faster with DSL, Cable or T1). >YOUR LOCAL ISP ACCOUNT WON'T BE SHUT OFF! >YOUR EMAIL WILL BE SENT DIRECTLY THROUGH OUR RELAY SERVERS! >NO TRACE OF YOUR ISP IN THE HEADERS! >100% UPTIME..OUR SERVERS NEVER GO DOWN! >YOUR EMAIL CAMPAIGN WILL BE COMPLETELY LEGAL! >NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED Full 24 hour technical support! HERE'S THE BOTTOM LINE AND WHAT OUR SERVICE CAN DO FOR YOU!
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Re:spammers do seem to drink their own kool-aid by jcr · 2003-08-18 13:12 · Score: 2, Funny

I've had SPAM-vertisers try to sign up the company I work for as a client, and I've had them try to convince me that it's OK to advertise that way.

You should have invited them to a meeting, and the kicked the crap out of them when they showed up.

-jcr

--
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Re:Ridiculous by mmuskratt · 2003-08-18 13:17 · Score: 2, Funny

Receiving 100 emails a day for penis enlargement, porn sites, great deals on vacations and a bunch of other crap is not a "pleasant experience" either.

It is not illegal to send unsolicited email, no, but unsolicited email is slowly crippling email itself. Just because it is not illegal does not make the spammers tactics any better than the anti-spammers.

It is legal for me to ride a train and drink a beer, but if I could magically clone myself 100 million times, then all the trains around here would have a bunch of drunk me's running around, and that would make the train system sort of pointless, except that I'd be pretty amused. Your argument would indicate that this would be ok...100 million beer drinking me's...that sounds cool.

--
man rtfm
Re:Counter to the spirit of the Internet by matrix0040 · 2003-08-18 13:32 · Score: 3, Funny

by the same logic

if u dont want obscene phone calls disconnect your phone or dont have a phone line.

so start calling ;-)
Re:Keep in mind by brooks_talley · 2003-08-18 13:36 · Score: 2, Funny

So if a spammer "I am a spammer", it means that they're not? And if you mistakenly accuse someone of being a spammer (hey, it happens sometimes) and they deny it, their denial means nothing because they're a spammer and therefore lying?

Damn, this problem is more difficult than I thought. There's mass stupidity on *both* sides.

Cheers
-b
Re:Booo-hooo by Quarters · 2003-08-18 14:11 · Score: 2, Funny

What really saddens me about this story, though, is finding out that someone like this has children.
Is that because he has the capability to raise more people with his ammoral views or is it because it proves that spammers get to have sex while UNIX using geeks don't?
Oh great... by taped2thedesk · 2003-08-18 14:40 · Score: 3, Funny

"I'll just stick to search engines and web sites - that's still plenty of fun and money."
Does that mean when I screw up and type www.gogole.com, instead of just a search engine, I'll get a penis enlargement ad?
Re:Ridiculous by Scrameustache · 2003-08-18 14:48 · Score: 2, Funny

Aggressive anti-spam activists should be locked up. They do more harm than good. I worked briefly as a spammer

Please post your name, adress, phone number, fax number, and picture here, on slashdot.

I promise you, we WILL do you more harm than good...

--
You can't take the sky from me...
Calling up spammers by billstewart · 2003-08-18 14:58 · Score: 4, Funny

If one person called up a spammer's toll-free number and sang them the Monty Python Spam Song or Weird Al Yankovic's Spam song, they might think it was a bit odd, but if a whole bunch of people started calling up, singing them a spam song, and hanging up, they might start to think it was a _movement_.

And if one person called up their toll-free number and left them a phone number they didn't want to talk to, like their ISP's phone number, or Interpol's, or the FBI's anonymous tip line, or their local police office, or their country's government's people-selling-bad-medicine bureaucracy's complaint line, or other spammers' toll-free numbers, or other spammers' ISP contact numbers, they might also start to think they were getting slashdotted.

--

Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Re:Booo-hooo by TheOtherChimeraTwin · 2003-08-18 15:04 · Score: 3, Funny

spammers get to have sex while UNIX using geeks don't?
Why do you assume that spammers aren't also unix using geeks?
You missed the part about spammers having sex, didn't you?
Re:Preferably an out-of-town meeting... by HidingMyName · 2003-08-18 15:17 · Score: 2, Funny

Nah, the right thing is to have them drive out for a business meeting, and instead of you showing up, have a stream of vendors come in and pitch their wares to the spammers. Perhaps if they realize that being mislead and finding out that they had to listen to advertisements instead of using their time developing opportunities or commmunication, they might take the hint.
Re:Booo-hooo by Anonymous Coward · 2003-08-18 15:32 · Score: 3, Funny

Lamest. Sig. Ever.
Interesting by dtfinch · 2003-08-18 15:36 · Score: 3, Funny

It's been 20 days since I've received a penile enlargement ad, though I've received nearly 700 spams on different subjects over that period.

Could it be that one guy was responsible for most of those ads?

Ack! I almost clicked submit having left the word "ad" out of the first paragraph. Glad I caught it.
Re:Ridiculous by jejones · 2003-08-18 15:58 · Score: 2, Funny

I worked briefly as a spammer, but then lost my income as a result of an anti-spam hacker with a chip on his shoulder.

We pause now for any expressions of sympathy.

(Crickets chirp.)
Re:Vigilante justice... by Idarubicin · 2003-08-18 16:04 · Score: 2, Funny

Here is the quintessential humour piece about the absurdity of the "Information Superhighway" metaphor. I haven't attributed it, because the first five citations of it in Google list five unique authors. (If anyone can identify the real author, let me know.)
There it is again. Some clueless fool talking about the "Information Superhighway". They don't know didley about the Net. It's nothing like a superhighway. That's a rotten metaphor.
Suppose the metaphor ran in the other direction. Suppose the highways were like the net...
A highway hundreds of lanes wide. Most with pitfalls for potholes. Privately operated bridges and overpasses. No highway patrol. A couple of rent-a-cops on bicycles with broken whistles. 500 member vigilante posses with nuclear weapons. A minimum of 237 on ramps at every intersection.
No signs. Wanna get to Ensenada? Holler out the window at a passing truck to ask directions.
Ad hoc traffic laws. Some lanes would vote to make use by a single-occupant-vehicle a capital offense on Monday through Friday between 7:00 and 9:00. Other lanes would just shoot you without a trial for talking on a car phone.
AOL would be a giant diesel-smoking bus with hundreds of ebola victims on board throwing dead wombats and rotten cabbage at the other cars, most of which have been assembled at home from kits. Some are built around 2.5 horsepower lawn mower engines with a top speed of nine miles an hour. Others burn nitroglycerin and idle at 120.
No license plates. World War II bomber nose art instead. Terrifying paintings of huge teeth or vampire eagles. Bumper mounted machine guns. Flip somebody the finger on this highway and get a white phosphorus grenade up your tailpipe. Flatbed trucks cruise around with anti-aircraft missile batteries to shoot down the traffic helicopter. Little kids on tricycles with squirt guns filled with hydrochloric acid switch lanes without warning.
NO OFFRAMPS. None.
Now that's the way to run an Interstate Highway system.

--
~Idarubicin
"I have already banned my 5-year-old... by EzInKy · 2003-08-18 20:15 · Score: 2, Funny

But Daddy you told me you provided a very much needed service to the world, why would you be ashamed to let me here about exactly what it is?

--
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
Re:Booo-hooo by suss · 2003-08-19 00:42 · Score: 2, Funny

Much like families where domestic violence is a tradition, we can be certain we have not seen the last of this from this family.

I bet his kids are trying to sell herbal viagra to the other kids in the schoolyard as we speak...

Spammers' Kid: "Wanna have a big stiff weewee?"
Other 5 year old: "Why?"
Spammers' Kid: "Ummm... I don't know... i'm 5"