Interview With a Spammer

All I want to know is. . . by kfg · 2003-09-27 04:56 · Score: 4, Funny

can I harvest his email address from the article?

KFG

Re:All I want to know is. . . by hendridm · 2003-09-27 05:21 · Score: 3, Informative

You can start with some of the addresses listed at the ROKSO.
Re:All I want to know is. . . by 1010011010 · 2003-09-27 05:52 · Score: 4, Informative

How about one of his websites?

http://bowieltd.com/

Administrative Contact:
Colbert, Richard pcheaven2k@zwallet.com
2400 W Broward Blvd
Suite 523
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312
US
954-327-0766

--
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Re:All I want to know is. . . by linzeal · 2003-09-27 06:22 · Score: 3, Funny

Hope he really really likes pepperoni.

--
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Re:All I want to know is. . . by Blkdeath · 2003-09-27 08:09 · Score: 5, Insightful

Hope he really really likes pepperoni.

Nice sentiment and all, but as someone who's worked both for pizza places and as a delivery driver I ask you; please don't. It costs the restaurant money in wasted food and preparation time, costs the delivery driver time and gas to make a round-trip for nothing, and is generally a Very Bad Idea.
If you want to annoy the man, please find a means of doing so that won't affect the pocketbooks of innocents.

--
BD Phone Home!
Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.
Re:All I want to know is. . . by eugene+ts+wong · 2003-09-27 09:50 · Score: 2, Insightful

It costs the restaurant money in wasted food and preparation time, costs the delivery driver time and gas to make a round-trip for nothing, and is generally a Very Bad Idea.
I agree.

It's bad for the environment.

It's also like sending spam to the pizza makers. After all, you'd be offering them a money making opportunity, which would be a bloody lie.

--
testing out my trending skills

Eh? by Garrett+Combs · 2003-09-27 04:57 · Score: 5, Insightful

"good spam vs. bad spam" Hrm... Is there such a thing?

--
Insert witty Slashdot sig here.

Re:Eh? by Brainboy · 2003-09-27 04:59 · Score: 2, Funny

Well if you leave an open can of spam out, it can go bad. Oh wait... wrong kind of spam.

--
Just a guy with an opinion
Re:Eh? by jellomizer · 2003-09-27 05:56 · Score: 5, Insightful

Well in the article he states it this way.

Good Spam. With Proper from line and workable remove links that actually remove your list and not used to verify your address.

Bad Spam. With altered from addresses bounced from every open relay on the planet to hide it origin. Remove links that are broken or use it as a method of verification.

Although I think all Spam is bad. I would focus my energy to getting all Spammers to get the "Good Spam" type first. That is why I forward all my Spam to uce@ftc.gov. That way the Federal Trade Commission checks the legality of their Spam. Usually when it is "Bad Spam" the FTC will go after them. After forwarding all my Spam to use@ftc.gov after many years there has a been a decrease in Spam. When I first got my current email address I had 3 or 4 Spams a day. Now I get 1 or 2 a month. Plus I know at least one of the Major Spammers has gotten hit with the FTC. Which was the Married but Single site. Which was Bad Spam because they Hid their identity their remove was a bad false link. And bounced over a variety of open relays. After I heard that the FTC went after them their Spam magically stopped.

If it is "Good Spam" I can normally handle that much easier without much effort. I just hit my Bounce to Sender feature on my email client and then I send them back a standard bounce-back message saying that my address doesn't exist thus making them take me off the list to save their bandwidth. Or if they are really annoying me I find the contact of the site can call them up by telephone telling them to stop. And most of the time they will be polite about it because they are sending "Good Spam" they have some morals and will follow my request.

So "Good Spam" is Spam that you can easily get off of, and often done by people and companies that don't realize the spam problem, or from Pointy Hair Bosses who don't think it is a problem because their Sysadmins did a good job to blocking them so when one or two gets in they think it is novel Idea.
"Bad Spam" has SCAM written all over it. Where it is just bad news all around.

--
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Re:Eh? by MrLint · 2003-09-27 06:17 · Score: 2, Interesting

Reminds me of the AOL for broadband commercial "Blocks unwanted spam"

I was unaware that were was 'wanted' spam. Perhaps just wanted spammers, Dead or alive.
Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-27 11:17 · Score: 2, Insightful

Sorry, but the 'bad spammers' have made it impossible to trust that any 'good spam' exists. Nobody is willing to click on an 'unsubscribe' link anymore. (Everybody knows that clicking unsubscribe means 'send me more spam, pretty please'.)

Spamming must be lucrative by l810c · 2003-09-27 04:57 · Score: 4, Funny

He lights up a Monarch menthol as he shows me his computer room, an intimate homemade space built off the side of an aging two-tone mobile home -- robin's-egg blue and white -- which sits among hundreds of Airstreams and Miami Deco single-wides in the Sunset Colony Mobile Home Park in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

What a life!

Re:Spamming must be lucrative by Lord_Slepnir · 2003-09-27 05:09 · Score: 5, Funny

Unfortunatly, the Mobile home has become a necessity for the spammer. The need to relocate on a moments notice and be able to out pace the lynch mob once they have your address should not be underestimated.
Re:Spamming must be lucrative by Animats · 2003-09-27 05:42 · Score: 2, Informative

It's suprising how many of these guys really do live in mobile homes.
I'm more worried about corporate spammers, who send "legitimate spam". But they're about to be history. After January 1, California's new spam law turns on, with criminal penalties and a private right of action. And you get to sue the advertiser, not just the sender.
Re:Spamming must be lucrative by FireBreathingDog · 2003-09-27 06:41 · Score: 2, Funny

Or just wait for a tornado to take care of it for you.

--
Shame on Google.

Finally, confirmed. by Faust7 · 2003-09-27 04:59 · Score: 5, Insightful

When an "out of the office" auto-reply comes back on one e-mail message, Colbert says: "Oh, we love those. They confirm that the address is active."

This should put to rest any remaining doubts about whether or not "unsubscribing" from spam lists actually works.

--
The coolest voice ever.

Re:Finally, confirmed. by MassacrE · 2003-09-27 05:03 · Score: 5, Funny

I get excited about an awesome car with a sexy girl in it, who has an active e-mail address ;-)
Re:Finally, confirmed. by Malcontent · 2003-09-27 08:04 · Score: 2, Informative

You can tell Mozilla mail not to display remote images in mail and news. It's under privacy->images.

Yet another reason why Mozilla rules.

--
War is necrophilia.

Obligitory link... by dnaboy · 2003-09-27 05:00 · Score: 5, Informative

The obligitory link to the New york times random login generator for those who don't feel the desire to identify yourself (or bother to create a clever alter ego).

These days you actually have to downlad the java script to your computer, because of those clever NYT people, but it's still possible for those who have personal issues with registrations....

'good' vs 'bad' spam by Kjella · 2003-09-27 05:01 · Score: 5, Funny

The spammers' definition:
Good: The spam I send and make me money
Bad: All that junk that fills up my inbox

Kjella

--
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings

Auto-reply by John+Seminal · 2003-09-27 05:06 · Score: 2, Interesting

The software monitors which e-mails are returned and tabulates their status. When an ''out of the office'' auto-reply comes back on one e-mail message, Colbert says: ''Oh, we love those. They confirm that the address is active.'' Within six minutes, on a single computer, running through a regular phone line, I have fired off 1,000 e-mail messages.

This sucks, for a spammer to take a tool that we use for work, and find a way to misuse it.

Is there any way to set auto-reply's to only send notices to emails on a specific domain, and not respond to any others?

--

Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

Spammers vs. Virus Engineers by ajensen · 2003-09-27 05:07 · Score: 2, Insightful

First off, Colbert doesn't think about spam the way I do (or, most probably, the way you do). He likes to call it ''bulk e-mailing,'' for starters. And he considers it just one of the many exciting new markets available on the Internet.

I tend to rank these people just as low on the societal ladder as those who write virii. I understand the thrill and excitement of knowing that your work (albeit destructive) is affecting millions, but why can't these brilliant folks put that energy to use solving problems instead of creating more?

This is an honest question -- why do so many people choose to create destructive and malicious programs instead of harvesting the glory that can be had when a really good app is written? That's simply a mentality that I don't understand and perhaps never will.

Good grief.

Re:Spammers vs. Virus Engineers by ComputerSlicer23 · 2003-09-27 05:44 · Score: 2, Interesting

If the accounting was done, I'd be pretty surprised if in an accurate accoutning Spammers don't do more harm to the economy then they do good themselves. That is, they are a net loser for the economy. (Maybe not, if I account for all the money the ISP's are charging, but that should be relatively zero sum game there). I know we have extra bandwidth around at work because of the sheer volume of junk mail we get. I'd be surprised if the drain spammers create isn't at least as much as virus and worm writers create. Granted on a per capita basis, that means spammers are better, but in aggregate they sure aren't. However, because they make a living at it they don't go away.
People who construct a virus and a worm are generally bad people. However, they have a positive side affect. They bring security to the forefront, and get people to update patches, and keep other maintience on there machines done. Things like backups. Updates to anti-virus software. Patches to the OS. Those are all good things. Other then the Anti-virus software, those should be done even assuming viruses and worms didn't exist (hardware failure and bugs exist so you need patches, and backups).
Who knows, maybe Spammers do for bandwith and internet infrastructure what Pornography and gamers do for home theater and personal computer equipment. They are a driving force to create more and better innovation. They drive costs down, and move things from low production runs into high volume production runs. I've heard the conjecture that most of the early adopters of VHS, DVD, big screen TV's, flat screen TV's, projector TV's, home theaters, rental stores, CD burners, DVD Burners, and digital video, and home video cameras are all pretty much either pornography creators or consumers. That a lot of the drive to bring out newer faster home computers, computer CD players, and almost the entire consumer 3D video card market was driven by early adopters from the gaming community.
It's weird to think that Pornography and Gamers have driven a *LOT* of the technology development for at least the past 20 years (gamers didn't start until later, but they've done their part). If it really is true that half of all internet traffic is SPAM (I find it hard to believe, but I suppose it it possible), then maybe spammers are doing us a favor in terms of driving the backbone of the internet providers to give us more cost effective bandwidth. Unfortuantely, spammers keep using up a great deal of the innovation they helped to create.
Kirby

"a second hard drive"? by way2trivial · 2003-09-27 05:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

Yes, the sent a reporter who refers to the computer itself as "the hard drive", Nice solid reporting.

--
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

Re:"a second hard drive"? by KillerHamster · 2003-09-27 05:18 · Score: 3, Interesting

"...the nine hard drives bound together with a superfast connection speed..."

Man, I wish I had a RAID setup like that!
Re:"a second hard drive"? by sketerpot · 2003-09-27 14:47 · Score: 2

If I were a reporter, I'd see how much I could politely portray the spammer as spamming rationalizing scum. For example, emphasize choice phrases like "'bulk marketing'" and say things like "nine computers spewing out spam in all directions as fast as the fast internet connection can carry it". Then I might have a few quotes from people running ISP's mail servers talking about how this really does cost other people money.

Oh. Crap. by CGP314 · 2003-09-27 05:08 · Score: 4, Insightful

More recently, spammers have figured out how to send unwanted text messages to cellphones

I've never endorsed vigilante action against spammers, but the instant I get a text message on my phone from a Nigerian businessman, I'm changing my mind. With my computer, I can run programs like popfile to stop the spam, but with a cell phone, there is nothing I can do.

An Address ;) by Ceadda · 2003-09-27 05:10 · Score: 2, Insightful

Thought about this for about 30 seconds, checked, and, what do you know :) I bet if enough of us had a bit of fun signing up catalogs and free brochures, and phone calls for more information to. Richard Colbert. Sunset Colony MH Park 2400 W Broward Blvd Fort Lauderdale 954-583-8602 The mobile home park might get pissed and kick him out? This is the park's address and phone, not his. ;) so extra annoying for them :)

--
*There's Klingons on the starboard bow, scrape em off Jim!*

I've gotta hand it to this guy... by rwven · 2003-09-27 05:11 · Score: 5, Interesting

LOL, i got a few good laughs out of his story. one of my favorite parts:

'"I was thrown off more BellSouth accounts than half the state of Florida,'' Colbert says. His name was known, and he was a marked and wanted man. But he found a way around the heat. ''Do you remember when American Express came out with temporary credit cards?'' he recalls happily. ''You could go to the 7-11 convenience store and buy a $25 credit card -- sort of like you buy a $25 phone card, only it was good for just $25 worth of credit."

Armed with a dozen of these cards, Colbert would go to the BellSouth Web site and create numerous e-mail accounts from which to send spam, each account with a fictitious name and address. Since the credit card couldn't be connected to him in any way, he could spam away until BellSouth finally got around to canceling that particular account. ''They were great, totally untraceable,'' he says of the credit cards. ''They don't sell them anymore. I think it's because of me.'' '

pretty smart feller ;)

Re:I've gotta hand it to this guy... by KC7GR · 2003-09-27 05:49 · Score: 3, Funny

Smart? Yeah, sure... 'Smart' like the petty criminal he really is.

Spammers, as a rule, either have zero concept of private property rights, or they (like telemarketers) think they have some mysterious "right" to (ab)use their intended recipient's E-mail boxes.

If this creepoid is so smart, and making so many $$, why is he living in a dilapidated mobile home in the middle of a Florida trailer park?

--
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,

Blue Feather Technologies

spam would stop tomorrow if... by professorhojo · 2003-09-27 05:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

...people stopped buying their crap.

i mean -- who the HELL buys penis enlargements, weight loss drugs and college diplomas from these sites? obviously -- too many of us.

prof.

Compare two statements.... by John+Seminal · 2003-09-27 05:14 · Score: 3, Insightful

''That's not fraud,'' he said. ''If it was fraud, the company wouldn't make any money.'' When I tried to pursue this suddenly slippery definition of fraud, he quickly added, defensively, ''The only sex product I sell is the penis-enlargement pill.''

and...

Back in Colbert's mobile home, I ask my spammer guru if he is feeling nervous, now that Congress is in the market for a few high-profile public hangings. Doesn't he fear that Orson Swindle might soon have him in an orange jumpsuit and shackles, doing a prime-time perp walk? ''Congress is full of idiots,'' he notes succinctly. Colbert says he doesn't believe that a strategy of going after a few kingpins will accomplish anything. Politicians will gain some publicity, but in the process, he argues, they will drive smaller operators further underground. ''Spammers will just use even more deceptive practices to keep from getting shut down,'' he says.

This guy is an idiot. That is the problem with the USA, anyone will do anything for money. There is no ethics at all. It is all self justificating.

--

Rosco: "If brains were gunpowder, Enos couldn't blow his nose."

isnt' this interesting... by Lord_Slepnir · 2003-09-27 05:15 · Score: 2, Funny

An NYTimes.com member account already exists for fuckyounyt@fuckyounyt.com. If this is your e-mail address, click here to retrieve your password. Otherwise, enter your correct e-mail address and click below to register.

I should be surprised, but somehow i'm not....

Re: Priceless by hendridm · 2003-09-27 05:24 · Score: 2, Insightful

2. Read the page. It has instructions on how to make it work.
3. The easiest way to get it to work would be to save the page source to your computer and open the local copy. Voila! No more page referral

Or you could just sign up for an account so you don't have to go through that rigamarole each time. :D

Helpless? by dougmc · 2003-09-27 05:24 · Score: 2, Interesting

(A good method for avoiding spam, then, is to always type your e-mail address on the Web this way: Arnie at hotmail.com or ArnieREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com. Humans can look at either and figure out what to do; software -- so far -- is helpless.)

Helpless? I don't buy that for a minute.

With perl, in 15 minutes I can make a program that automatically (and correctly) de-spamproofs about 90% of the spamproofed addresses out there. In another hour I can probably get another 5%. The remaining 5% are a lot harder, but they can easily be ignored. (Of course, many humans (think of grandma) have a hard time deciphering much of that remaining 5% as well.)

Spammers are stupid, yes, but when there's money on the line, they can certainly figure out simple things like this, or if not, they can pay somebody else to figure them out for them. True `hackers' may have their scruples, and may hate spam, but if they're out of a job and a spammer offers them $1000 for an hour's work ... guess what's gonna happen?

I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet, but just wait -- those who use user@NOSPAMdomain.com are going to find their `spamproofed' addresses getting more and more spam.

Re:Helpless? by dubiousmike · 2003-09-27 07:09 · Score: 2, Interesting

one of my best friends, the guy who got me into Linux, PHP, MYSQL, now does side work for one of the big spammers. If the email you get sent gets bounced back to them, they automatically take you off their list. The feature found in some email clients that lets you bounce the email back AFTER reading it, is one of the best ways to get yourself removed from lists.

I personally got a separate domain JUST for email. Every time I have to enter my email address somewhere new, I would submit site_name.specific_info_if_necessary@mydomain.com. Then if I start getting spam from someone using that new address, I know who sold me out. I have a catch all for the domain so all email goes to one place. It really lets you know who you can trust. Its also easy to block a specific address that you would never use again anyway to decrease your amount of spam you'd get period, never mind with spam assasin.

I also decided to get all of my family's names .com so that in 4 years, when my grandmother goes to Google my sister's name, some one hasn't decided to start buying people's name's.com and parking them on porn sites. Grandma will be shocked if my sister's name returns a video of a dirty sanchez.

Also, as my family members become more aclimated to the idea of utilizing a domain (for a site or just email) they can do so. They will thank me later.
Re:Helpless? by blibbleblobble · 2003-09-27 09:10 · Score: 2, Funny

"A good method for avoiding spam, then, is to always type your e-mail address on the Web this way: Arnie at hotmail.com or ArnieREMOVETHIS@hotmail.com. Humans can look at either and figure out what to do; software -- so far -- is helpless"

Not tried emailing girls have you?

"What's wrong with your email address? It's just come back as undeliverable or something"

"What email address did you send it to?"

"ewhite NOSPAM (at) yahoo.com"

Re:Why I love the times by 1u3hr · 2003-09-27 05:27 · Score: 4, Interesting

Note at the end of the article:

He points under his desk to a recent arrival, a second hard drive, precisely what he would need to begin a new network.
''It's a Dell Pentium 233,'' he says. ''I got it for $15, plus $23.95 shipping.''

The reporter seems unable to distinguish between a "hard drive" and an entire computer; one wonders if his grasp of other details is as weak.

All-time favorite interaction with a spammer by Kurt+Gray · 2003-09-27 05:29 · Score: 3, Funny

Everyone has their own favorite story about an interaction with a real live spammer, this is my personal favorite from the archives of Hot Wired's defunct Packet column, called "My Spammer Dream Date"

Re:All-time favorite interaction with a spammer by LordKane · 2003-09-27 11:55 · Score: 2, Interesting

Yea, the funny thing about this particular first person interaction with a live spammer is I also know the guy too. Richard Cobert was trying to set my company up with a marketing campaign, buy some of the customer database software we sell, and I had to deal with him. I still have his purchase info for what he did buy. :-)
This guy is a total sleaze. I felt slimy just talking to the guy. It's spammers like this guy that cause all the problems. I mean, he has no qualms about how he makes a buck. He even tried to get chummy with me in order to land the deal. He told the most whacked stories about his "old" golf career as a potential pro and how he knew Bill Gates (another reason he's a moron) and could have been rich with him. If he really did know Gates, I can see where he gets his "do anything to make $$$" mentality from. A little later, we found out he was working for Keith Taubb and America Int., another shady list dealer.
He was just to slimy and we decided he was probably lying that his campaign was totally "opt-in." I cut him loose as soon as possible, and it was so funny to hear about him the next year as one of the biggest spammers on our little rock. This was over 2 years ago now, but even now thinking about talking to him makes me shiver. For once, I understand why tigers eat their young...

--
"Victims, aren't we all?"

Distributive justice by wytcld · 2003-09-27 05:34 · Score: 5, Insightful

But the distributive-justice approach is all but dead in Congress, at least in part because of the Republicans' deep antipathy for trial lawyers.

If we empowered individuals to sue spammers, then trial lawyers would make money, so it is bad. Ours is a system of laws, but setting up laws so that individuals can hire lawyers to protect their health, property or privacy is bad, because any lawyer who would profit by helping individuals in those causes is bad. Laws should only provide opportunities for corporations and corporate lawyers, never for individuals and the guns-for-hire they bring to the arena.

Republicans ... beloved of Libertarians ... why?

--
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton

Who buys this stuff? by ToddUGA95 · 2003-09-27 05:49 · Score: 2, Funny

Fat people with small penis' who never went to college I would assume.

Spamming doesn't pay by mabu · 2003-09-27 05:51 · Score: 3, Interesting

This freak has a NOC in a mobile home. He buys his clothes off of ebay. Yea, more evidence of how lucrative spamming really is. That's another myth that needs to be busted: that spamming is profitable. It is not. Spammers can't build a successful business when the business is built around violating the law and stealing computer resources. The people that spam today are the same losers who would be running around slapping illegal signs up on telephone poles promoting Ponzi schemes.

Re:Spamming doesn't pay by JayBlalock · 2003-09-27 06:35 · Score: 2

He buys his clothes off of ebay. Yea, more evidence of how lucrative spamming really is.
Any businessman who throws away profit needlessly is a fool who does not deserve profit.
Any businessman who uses any advantage he can find to lower his business expenses will see greater profit.
...
If you're going to hate, come up with a decent reason. Posts like that do nothing to enhance your intellectual standing.

--
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.

Re:Something you can do (in Europe) by frankie · 2003-09-27 05:52 · Score: 2, Informative

not that hard replacing the simcard in a mobile phone

Sigh. One of the many advantages of having a unified cell infrastructure, unlike the USA. Each provider has their own network, which means you need to buy a new phone if you switch. Heck, we still can't even port our number with us.

Does God hate spammers? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-27 05:55 · Score: 2, Funny

If that trailer park the guy is living in gets leveled by a tornado, we'll know.

Re:The self appointed privacy advocates by zaren · 2003-09-27 06:00 · Score: 2, Informative

What is SPAM ?

SPAM is a form of direct marketing, where the customers is approached by email.

BZZZZZZT! You're describing "spam", not the tasty pink processed meat product: I quote from Hormel:

We do not object to use of this slang term to describe UCE, although we do object to the use of the word "spam" as a trademark and to the use of our product image in association with that term. Also, if the term is to be used, it should be used in all lower-case letters to distinguish it from our trademark SPAM, which should be used with all uppercase letters. -- http://spam.com/ci/ci_in.htm

Note that direct markting itself was never a problem itself, and it's much older than computers. The first forms of direct marketing can be traced back to the end of the 19th century.

And before spam came along, the marketer or the seller shouldered the cost of the advertising. They paid for their paper, and the postage, the shipping clerk that handled the mail, etc., etc. Spammers pay for none of that. They illegally access servers in Korea and China to spew their slime, infect computers world-wide with viruses that turn personal computers in spam relay stations, use free email accounts to inject their spew into the network... and the cost of this, in terms of bandwidth, server storage, and all the other reltaed systems and people needed to maintain them, is passed on to the unwilling recipients.

The main problem with SPAM is that it is undirected. Zillions of people getting zillions of email with offers they don't need...

No, the main problem with spam is that it's a theft of resources, not to mention fraud, harassment, violation of privacy, and violation of at least two dozen state's laws.

--
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!

Harness Daytime TV for the powers of good by MattGWU · 2003-09-27 06:09 · Score: 2, Interesting

One thing that I've always wondered is why no groups have embarked on a public education campaign against spam? These days, there are public service announcements for everything. How much could a 20 second spot between a Metamucil ad and a personal injury lawyer be during some Judge Shrill Crackpot at 2:30 on a Tuesday?

Hit the bootleg Viagra and weight loss crowd where they live: glued to their couches during prime soap and talk time when the rest of us are at work.

The only question is how long would 'the industry' sit on their laurls while we badmouth their fine, economy-stimulating trade. Do Not Call List, the fine folks at the DMA, and Federal judges, I'm looking in your direction.

Food for thought. I'm not sure who would be producing these ads, but I'd kick them some money...

--
"These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined" --Homer re:

Re:Why I love the times by John+Miles · 2003-09-27 06:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

C'mon...just because the reporter isn't up to snuff on computers, doesn't mean they can't write. I hear this all the time from our users at work. It's almost accepted among the non-tech folk.

So what you're saying is that I'm supposed to decide what companies to invest in, whether or not to support various wars, which of several political candidates to vote for, and whether to take an umbrella to work tomorrow based on journalism of this quality?

Here's a question for the NYT apologists: if their reporters don't give a shit about accuracy in matters you can call them on, what makes you think their reporting is worth anything on other, more important topics?

--
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.

Re:What a life! by rerunn · 2003-09-27 06:16 · Score: 2, Insightful

Link is dead.

Here is his Ebay feedback pack. He likes dishes?

Here is his Ebay About Me page.

Who is Bowie LTD?
Bowie LTD is a Partnership founded by Richard A. Barboza and Richard D. Colbert in March 2003. Our Federal EIN is 55-0826011. Any further information you may require on our Company or its Partners can be obtained by emailing sales@bowieltd.com. You may also visit our website @ http://www.bowieltd.com/.

Worse - Nigerians abusing Internet Deaf Relay by billstewart · 2003-09-27 06:55 · Score: 2, Interesting

A couple of months ago I got a call on my cellphone from the AT&T-run deaf relay service, which has expanded from relaying TDDs to relaying from some Internet interface (I think web?). It was, as near as I could tell, a Nigerian scammer. It was obviously not an American, because they were calling me on a Sunday evening on Memorial Day weekend to talk about a business opportunity, and I asked what time zone they were in and it was compatible with being daytime in Nigeria... I asked the operator if she could trace the call but apparently she couldn't.

--

Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks

RE: Out of Office auto-replies by King_TJ · 2003-09-27 07:04 · Score: 2, Insightful

Actually, I've felt that the "Out of Office" auto-reply is a bit of a security risk anyway, when it's used anyplace besides within the company's internal network.

This is just one more example of why it's not necessarily a good idea to use it.

My original concern was with advertising to the world that you're not at work. Granted, it's common practice to record this type of message on your corporate voice mail system - but that's not quite the same thing. People have to know enough about you to know your company's phone number and get to your private extension to hear it.

The idea of any random spammer finding out that I'm away on vacation until date X/Y strikes me as a bad idea. That's like making public announcements to would-be hackers, saying "Hey, hack in using my account! I won't even notice for 2 more weeks!"

Absolutely Disgusting... by Lobsang · 2003-09-27 07:06 · Score: 2, Funny

It amazes me how these degenerates get space in the NY Times and other important matters just don't get covered at all. The guy is an unscrupulous SOB who is willing to harass 1 million people for a meager $900.

His home is not that far from mine. I think we should get a bunch of slashdotters and go there break his legs, which, in my lingo, is called "mass beating". :))

This may mark the decline of free WiFi.... by Chuqmystr · 2003-09-27 07:07 · Score: 2, Interesting

I was hoping to read a little more about the WiFi quip. I'm assuming that the notion of a "drive-by spamming" has evolved to a reality.

I can't wait until I see the first 1975 rusted-out Chevy van festooned with soup, floppy disk and pringles can antennas galore, cabin lit by the pale glow of an LCD, go creeping through the neigborhood.

Oh great, I just realized something else. All the telcos and cable co's will finally be able to have their congressional butt-pupets legislate all of we pesky home WiFi users out of existence now. After all, we're too iresponsible/stupid/ignorant/lazy to do anything about security on our APs and so, can't be trusted with them. With all those unsecured APs out there on the user end of those thousands of DSL and cable connections acting as virtual spam-spots instead of hot-spots the internet will become an instant disaster! Oh the HUMANITY!

Anyway, soon after the telcos/cable co's save us all, yet again, from our own self inflicted demise we will be lining up at the retail outlets of [insert wireless carrier name of choice here] to sign up for service. It will be quite reasonable at ~$75/month for all you can eat or ~$20/month for say, a generous 500KB/month and then $5.00/minute after allowance usage. Oh, and it will be secure and guaranteed to work with Windoze. Only Windoze. So it can be secure...

Even better by LinuxGeek · 2003-09-27 07:09 · Score: 2, Funny

I'll bring the tar, you bring the feathers.

Forget the tar and feathers, cover him with the spammers delight: a golden shower from middle aged russian women followed by rolling him in penis enlargment pills. Then sign him up for a home improvment loan on his "mobile palace".

--

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain

Google saves the day! by phannah · 2003-09-27 07:35 · Score: 2, Informative

Richard D Colbert, (954) 484-9977, 1765 NW 39th Ct, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe =UTF-8&q=%22richard+colbert%22+bellsouth http://www.google.com/search?q=%22richard+colbert% 22+florida&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Spam is NOT free speech by frankie · 2003-09-27 07:50 · Score: 4, Informative

It's called Free Speech. Bill of Rights

Not according to Warren Burger, Chief Justice, SCOTUS, May 4, 1970:

"Nothing in the Constitution compels us to listen to or view any unwanted communication, whatever its merit"

"We therefore categorically reject the argument that a vendor has a right under the Constitution or otherwise to send unwanted material into the home of another. If this prohibition operates to impede the flow of even valid ideas, the answer is that no one has a right to press even 'good' ideas on an unwilling recipient. That we are often 'captives' outside the sanctuary of the home and subject to objectionable speech and other sound does not mean we must be captives everywhere. The asserted right of a mailer, we repeat, stops at the outer boundary of every person's domain."

Nice fraud on his home page too..... by davinciII · 2003-09-27 08:01 · Score: 2, Informative

His homepage claims he is mentally unstable, gives a large sob story, and begs for Paypal donations.

Also includes a larege picture of the man himself.

Re:Hello my name is Richard Dennis Colbert Jr. by randyest · 2003-09-27 08:16 · Score: 3, Informative

Hey fuckwit moderators: this is not offtopic. It's from the spammer's own website mentioned in the article.

There really needs to be some sort of IQ test before mod points are given out. Really.

--
everything in moderation

Think yourself lucky by IIH · 2003-09-27 11:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

I've never endorsed vigilante action against spammers, but the instant I get a text message on my phone from a Nigerian businessman, I'm changing my mind.

I've lost track of the junk text messages I've got, advertising free holidays, premimum rate lines, and the latest one this morning was from a phone number "important" telling me to go to a certain url for a surpise prize.

Unfortunatly, I live in the UK, where despite this being illegal (my cell phone is registered with TPS), trying to get these people fined, never mind shut down, is next to impossible. Hell, I can't even find what company sent it to lodge the iniital complaint!

As an aside, does anyone know if you can get any info from your phone provider on thses "anonymous" text messages, Also, can you do a reverse lookup on premium rate lines? (I know if you register a PO box, your information must be available, is the same for premium rate lines?)

--
Exigo spamos et dona ferentes

60 of 429 comments (clear)