SJ Merc: Cops arrest angry spam recipient...

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
> Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 10:21:21 -0800
> From: Paul Saffo <psaffo () iftf org>
> Subject: SJ Merc: Cops arrest angry spam recipient...
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>
>
>
> 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 () mercurynews com 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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