[IP] SJ Merc: Cops arrest angry spam recipient...
Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 10:21:21 -0800
From: Paul Saffo <psaffo@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: SJ Merc: Cops arrest angry spam recipient...
To: Dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Hmmm. You had better be nice to your spammers or they will sic the cops
on you. (note "additional info" at the end of the piece)
-p
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/7326032.htm
Posted on Sat, Nov. 22, 2003
Spam sends local man into rage
HE'S ARRESTED FOR DEATH THREAT
By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News
Charles Booher said he is normally a non-violent person. In his spare
time, he writes software programs that he likens to Andy Warhol art
projects. The last time the Sunnyvale resident got in a fight, he was 11
years old.
But in May, Booher received one piece of unsolicited e-mail too many.
Booher sat down at his keyboard and began firing back e-mail after e-mail
threatening to kill the alleged spammer, according to law enforcement
officials. On Thursday, federal agents arrested Booher, 44, at his home
and charged him with 11 violations of interstate communications.
Released on bond, Booher faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison
and a $250,000 fine.
``If I could go back, I wouldn't have done it,'' he said Friday. ``I would
have realized sooner that I needed to shut my Web site down, to shut down
my e-mail and to re-evaluate the way I was using the Internet.''
Booher said the nature of the spam he received set off an emotional
trigger. He said he is a three-time survivor of testicular cancer and that
he was bombarded by e-mail and pop-up ads for penile enlargement. No
matter what he did, he couldn't get them to go away. ``I wanted them to
leave me alone,'' he said.
He first tried to figure out a technical solution. A professional
programmer, he said he has a bachelor's degree in physics from the
Illinois Institute of Technology, a master's in electrical engineering
from Northwestern, as well as certificates in computer programming from
the University of California-Santa Cruz and in the history of science from
Stanford University.
When the ads wouldn't stop, Booher said he contacted the company, Albion
Medical, which appeared to be sending the spam, and asked to speak with
Doug Mackay, whose name had appeared on one of the unsolicited advertisements.
``I said, `Will you please stop spamming me so much,' '' Booher recalled.
``He said, `I'd like to try, but it's complicated. I have literally
millions of agents out there.' ''
``It started polite, but it went downhill from there,'' Booher said.
In May, Booher began sending Mackay blood-chilling e-mails. Excerpts from
the e-mails were filed with the criminal complaint against Booher. In an
e-mail dated June 14, Booher promises Mackay he will ``locate you, disable
you using a quick 22 calibre shot to your lower spine and then duck tape.
. . . I am going to cut into the left side of your brain using a power
drill and an ice pick.''
``He's obviously a very sick man,'' said Mackay from his office in Canada.
Mackay insists his company, DM Contact Management, has nothing to do with
spam and has no relationship with the companies who were spamming Booher.
In a telephone interview, Mackay said his company handled customer service
for Internet companies, answering telephone queries and taking orders.
``We don't deal with any e-mail marketing at all,'' he said.
However, according to a sworn affidavit by FBI Agent John Carney, DM
Contact Management does provide ``advertising to e-mail subscribers.''
Albion Medical, which sent Booher advertisements for ``VigRX,'' does
business as Leading Edge Marketing, a Bahamas company whose phones are
answered by Mackay's company in Victoria, British Columbia.
A DM Contact Management online job posting in August for a systems
administrator gives a company number that is answered by someone who
identifies themselves as working for Leading Edge Marketing.
Mackay told the Mercury News that Leading Edge Marketing is just a client
of his company and that they don't send unsolicited e-mail.
Booher said he threatened Mackay because the tactic seemed to work. ``I
would scream at him and it would stop, and then it would start up again,
and then I would scream at him again.''
Alarmed, Mackay said he contacted police in both Victoria, where his
office is based, and in Sunnyvale. The Sunnyvale police called Booher and
for a few days there was a truce.
Then Booher started receiving spam again. He said it was different
companies, but they were selling the same product, and he believed Mackay
was behind it. On July 6, Booher wrote Mackay: ``I am going to slam a 10cm
ice pick into your left ear. It is going to go past your ear drum and when
it does so you are for a brief moment going to be in more pain than you
can imagine.''
Mackay said he began researching Booher on the Web and found out that he
had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in San Jose in
1998 about an encryption program he was selling on the Web. Though Booher
was never charged with any sort of violation, Booher was upset enough by
the government inquiry to post the subpoena on his Web site. Mackay found
it, and called the FBI agent whose name was listed there.
Booher said he would not have followed through on his threats. ``The front
of my computer is where I express anger,'' he said. ``Where are you
allowed to get angry in the world?'' Typing on his keyboard gave him
relief. ``It felt like I was just getting some rage out,'' he said.
Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or (408) 271-3774.
-----------------------
Additional info:
The company originating the advertisements that angered Mr. Booher can be
found at: www.albionmedical.com
and also Leading Edge Herbals , 2414 4th Avenue ,Greeley, CO 80631
www.leadingedgecash.com
And here is an interesting window into the sleazy world of online
marketing -- a review of leading edge's products for would-be sellers of
their, um, products:
http://www.pillsponsors.com/leadingedge_penis_pill_sponsor.php
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