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Man Arrested for 'Spam Rage'
Mirkon writes "We've all gotten frustrated at some point with spam. Perhaps we've even been motivated to send nasty, threatening messages back to the spammers, just to vent some frustration. Wired reports that 44-year-old computer programmer Charles Booker did just that, and 'now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.'"
Hell, I know I feel like "disabling" these spammers who refuse to take you off their lists.
Sugapablo
What kind of help? I'll loan him a gun or two. Can any /.'er surreptitiously provide the anthrax spores?
This guy is a computer professional?
Must work for the government, or something.
You threaten to do harm to someone, for whatever reason, its a crime.. you should goto jail...
If that's true, then can we please send the government and police to jail?
It's not like they guy sent the email to the FAA, threatening an airliner or something like that. He said, 'Take me off your spam list or else', only after asking nicely tons of times. Is that worth a quarter million dollar fine? NO! Just take the freakin' guy off the email spam list the first time, and it never would have escalated. This is a company that found out just how mad spam can make people... they should consider themselves lucky that he wasn't a REAL nutcase and didn't drive a truck full of nitroglycerine through the front door (very very bad)! Making personal threats of violence is wrong, but i ask this: what should be his recourse after being infuriated by being ignored and spammed countless times?
stuff |
I'm sending a copy of the Wired article to President Bush and asking him him to pardon this guy as a demonstration of how we feel about spam. If that doesn't work maybe he could use the "Twinkie Defense".
Only Reliable, Medically Approved Penis Enhancement.
poor guy if he finds one of those enlarged pennis in jail...
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
Exactly. Be rational. For God's sake, fake your return address.
(Once you are assured of your anonymity, make sure that the threat is extremely detailed. A threat to snipe employees in the parking lot -- located at the intersection of streets Y and X -- is the kind of threat that companies take seriously. If necessary, you can spell out the profit/loss calculus for them. 10,000,000 spam emails = 10 penis devices sold = 1 crazy nut shooting up your place of business. Is it worth it, punk?)
"I will hunt down and castrate your employees unless you take me off your e:mail list".
Now can anyone tell me what on earth is so unreasonable about that?
But seriously. The fact that the Canadian company failed to take him off their e:mail list the first time he complained / threatened could surely be seen a provocation. (At least in terms of lessening the guys sentence)
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
This guy should be nuts. I mean, come on, why would anyone even say NO to an offer of 30% of US$10,000,000 ( Ten Million US Dollars only ) and FREE Pills(TM) to improve Sex Life(TM) ?
getSexySig();
I think we should alls end them many emails saying how we feel.
and click on their website links
a LOT
My favorite line:
"Mackay said such firms gave a bad name to the penis enhancement business."
Gosh, I can't belive I've been mislead to think the whole industry was a farce by "such firms".
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
" Mackay said such firms gave a bad name to the penis enhancement business. "
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I'm sorry ... were you saying something ... ?
I wasn't paying attention...
This guy should have formulated his threats in a Official-sounding, Religious kind of way. Like:
I, Jesrad, Pope of the DIscordian Church of Kalliste, Hereby demand that your company removes Me from whatever email lists it maintains. Failure to comply will result in [enter list of gruesome curses and obscene tortures in a ritual kind of procedure].
In the name of our Lady of Confusion, [dated, signed]
This way your threats can pass off as protected religious practices. Goddess knows my religious practices often pass off as threatening, so the opposite shouldn't be that hard.
Maybe we deserve this world ?
Here's what I don't get... This guy is a programmer and he not only can't block spam emails effectively, but look at this quote from the article (yep I'm one who actually reads them ;):
Booker said the problem stemmed from a program he mistakenly downloaded from the Internet that brought a continuous stream of advertising to his computer.
So this is a guy who clicks 'Yes' to popups that say Do you want to install HorsePornSpamSender.exe?! And furthermore, doesn't know how to download and run AdAware or SpyBot (or even search Google to find out that they exist)?
Doesn't sound like a programmer I'd want working for my firm...
THE MAGIC WORDS ARE SQUEAMISH OSSIFRAGE
So what everyone is getting at is simply:
Let's take spam "assassin" to a new level?
Could be a nice new field for laid of tech workers!
Guy walks into a bar holding a pile of wet steaming dogshit. "Hey guys, look what I almost stepped in!"
If the spammer wins, he will publicly expose himself. He will effectively paint a giant target on his back.
When someone is harrassing you, I believe it's fine to defend yourself with mild acts of violence. While I don't think killing a spammer is appropriate, a good ass-whooping may be exactly what he needs.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!