Male enlargement ads prompt spam rage

[Gman]

<snip>
SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- Call it spam rage: A Silicon Valley computer programmer has been arrested for threatening to torture and kill employees of the company he blames for bombarding his computer with Web ads promising to enlarge his penis.
,
,
,
Booher threatened to send a "package full of Anthrax spores" to the company, to "disable" an employee with a bullet and torture him with a power drill and ice pick; and to hunt down and castrate the employees unless they removed him from their e-mail list, prosecutors said.

He used return e-mail addresses including [e-mail].
</snip>

You mean this guy did something wrong???? That's the least of the things a lot of us feel like doing to these spammers!

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/11/24/spam.rage.reut/index.html

[johnfunk]

1. Well, the threats WERE a bit over the top...

... and -- let's face it -- the threat of castration and a "wiener-ectomy" would have been far more appropriate given the nature of the Spam.

[imax2268]

2. There have been times

where I got so many spam letters in my email that I had to upgrade to the highest level of security my spam blocker would offer...I would get anywhere from 5 to 10 ads for viagra and enlargement products a day in my inbox...it was quite annoying to say the least...I always thought about sending them letters to tell them to "F" off...I'm glad I didn't now...

This guy's actions were a bit over the top...but I can understand his frustration...he should have used his head a bit better than making threats...

[kysrsoze]

9. The latest craze: prescription drugs w/o a prescription

...like valium, vicodin, etc.

Thanks, Rush - you @sshole.

[SpiralHawk]

3. When are they going to invent a penis-reduction pill?

For over-endowed men?

When that spam starts piling up in my in box, I will know that the Apocalypse is upon us.

[htuttle]

4. I'm curious about something

Do these 'Penis Enlargement' scammers target mostly North American customers, or does everyone around the world get this much spam about it?



Call it a hunch...

[Dirk39]

6. Everyone, at least here in Europe...

although, I'm suspecting DU somehow. Since I subscribed to DU, I get tons of it everyday.
Dirk

[htuttle]

8. Is most of it in English?

Also, is most of your spam generally in English?

Now, I'm getting more curious about spam.

Are we ALL getting the same spam, around the planet? Or do the Chinese get more Chinese spam, Germans more German-language spam, etc... I get small amounts of non-English spam, but probably 95% of it is in English, with assorted Spanish and Chinese spam.

English spam, Chinese Spam, Spanish spam,
spam and porn,
spam, spam, viagra and spam,
spam, spam, low interest loans and spam...

Lovely spam, wonderful spa-a-m,
Lovely spam, wonderful S Spam



Whoa...that'll teach me look through my Junk mailbox...

[Dirk39]

12. 99% is english, but I guess this is simply because most people...

understand it. Funny somehow, that the same people, who lead a world wide war "against terror", can't even get rid of this idiotic spam.
Somehow I think, they don't wanna get rid of this kind of stuff. At least Microsoft doesn't want it. It's freedom, it's capitalism. Everyone , who doesn't want to open every fucking door to every kind of useless stuff, nobody needs, is a hmmm terrorist, who hates us for our freedom, to enlarge our dicks.
Dirk

[htuttle]

14. To get rid of this stuff, they'd have to run the net differently

Ultimately, you can probably place the blame for it on the commoditization of the infrastructure of the net, like domain names, IP address blocks, etc...

The way these 'regulators' work now is that they pretty much just go for the bucks over public good each time. What you end up with is a market in IP address blocks and domain names that is exploited to keep spammers one step ahead of blocking software, IP blacklists, etc...

Back in the day (ie., Pre-September 1993 ), if somebody was sending spam, either to Usenet or through email, you could actually contact their ISP and have a reasonable chance of the ISP telling them to stop or yank their account. If that didn't work, you could put them in your blackhole list, and you'd never hear from them again.

Now, entire domains and IP address blocks appear and disappear in a matter of days, sender email addresses are generated randomly, etc...

I'm not a huge fan of internet regulation. A lot could be accomplished by implementing newer technologies like IPv6 (to prevent IP spoofing), but unfortunately, as long as people continue to just click 'Start' on a mail server without really reading the instructions, you're going to have open relays, and thus, anonymous spam.

However, there has got to be a better way than 'buy-a-domain-for-a-dollar.com'. Or maybe not.

I don't really have an answer, I guess. Just reminiscing...

[htuttle]

15. On the other hand...

If the choice were between spam or a regulation system that could ultimately be used to stifle opinion, I'd rather take the spam.

As John Perry Barlow said, "In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat."

[arcos]

10. I'm in Latin America...

and receive a lot.

[Matilda]

25. I get the same spam in Australia.

Penis enlargements, Viagra, porn, and now the latest is prescription
medicines. Best thing is a mailwasher that will hold the mail
and bounce it if instructed. It's slow checking through - some
days I get 100 spam emails - but my policy is to delete any mail
if I don't recognise the sender, or a key word in the subject.

Personally, I favour hanging spammers by their fingernails - if they
can be caught.

[psychopomp]

29. I don't get any

spam, none in English, that is. I live in rising sun country.

[BadGimp]

5. very imaginative

"torture him with a power drill and ice pick"

a regular Tim Allen meats Jeff Dalhmer

:evilgrin:

[newyorican]

7. Things that make you go hmmm...

Well, right now the HR dept in my company is going nuts. About 200 employees have been complaining about porn and penis enhancement in the inbox for years. They (the employees) have just retained a laywer. Yep, the HR dept. is freaking out now...

Evidently there are some folks that were protesting an Adult shop opening nearby that are now involved. things could get messy. FWIW, cutting off email is not an option unless your willing to suffer a massive blow to productivity.

[LizW]

11. Has he never heard of spam blocker software?

Just blocking the words "penis", "viagra", "paxil", "ambien", "mortgage" and "prozac" got rid of a huge percentage of the spam I used to get. For the heck of it, I also blocked "cum" and "sluts" and that got rid of even more. I don't figure anyone's going to be sending me any legit e-mail with those words. ;)

[Dirk39]

13. PURCHASE Genric V_I.A.G.R_A ONLINE! r

Immediate Delivery of Prescri$ption Drug)s

ENJOY BIG 0N PR1INTING CARTRIDGES

We D0 What V1agra Can't"excavating

Men intreoduceing the __Pehnis__Paltch! Enlwarge today! e

Just some examples out of my trash-can...
Dirk

[LizW]

23. LOL! Yes, those get through

But I just keep adding to my blocked list. I can be as relentless as they can. The ones I can't block now are the ones with just gibberish in them. What's up with that, anyway? Who would open an e-mail with a gibberish subject line?

For that matter who would open an e-mail for penis enlargement?:crazy:

[tlb]

16. If just the spam for viagra causes an uprising,

it must really work !

[grannylib]

17. So what company is it?? I'd like to damage them myself the bastards...

[DrBB]

18. Think they're actually SELLING penis enlargement patches or pills? Nope.

Whatever you do, do NOT "unsubscribe" from such emails. These guys are not selling p*n*s en L*A*R*G*E*ment or whatever, even though that's what they say in their subject line. What their actual business is, is selling "live" email lists to other spammers. By sending an "unsubscribe" you merely confirm that your particular email address actually has a person at the other end of it. You go into their list of "good" emails that they will sell to someone else, and you'll being on the receiving end of even more of this sludge.

[htuttle]

19. And turn off remote images in HTML email!

That's one of the ways they can track you.

When you open the email, it fetches a (sometimes invisible, sometimes visible) image from their server. The URL used for the image can have your email address encoded into it.

This 'hit' then gets put into The Great Marketing Database, and now they can match your IP address with your email. This can be used to analyze who's looking at web ads (and who's clicking on them, whether they're buying, etc...), so this information can be sold. Which they will.

Not all remote images in HTML email do that, but enough do. Not all web advertisers have access to information like this, but the big companies do, like doubleclick.com.

[DrBB]

28. Yes--very shrewd point

It's easy to do reverse-lookup on those; obvious when you think about it. I keep html turned off anyway because download images into your email client is a pointless time-sink.

[xchrom]

20. i gotta give the guy props

for creative use of language. he was good.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

21. Sounds like freeps talking about liberals...

Somebody send the AG to freeperland if he wants to crack down on threatening speech.

[theHandpuppet]

22. The easy way to "reduce" the spam...

... and aim it at those most likely to suffer from feelings of manly inadequacy is for these companies to target their prime demographic: registered Republicans and Hummer drivers. I'd also suggest that these spammers offer a gift bonus to their obsessively dick-waving customers -- a Gen-U-ine "GWB flight suit codpiece" for those times when what you've really got is not nearly enough.

[trogdor]

24. Damn! Sounds like something Moe would say...

...when Bart and Lisa crank call him. "I'd like to talk to Seymour. Seymour Butts..."

[Tracer]

26. A year ago, before I switched to cable modem...

... I was inundated with "enlargement" spam. Since I'm female, this hardly applied!

Since then, whatever spam filters Comcast is using, works 102% of the time. The extra 2% is the genuine e-mail sent to me that happens to use a "forbidden" word Ñ like "credit".

An odd thing happened yesterday though (at least I've never come across it before).

I wanted a recipe for a meringue pie crust for Thanksgiving, and Googled "recipes, meringue pie crust". Up came a few genuine recipes, but mixed in with them were slug lines that had "meringue" mixed in with every possible combination of smutty words imaginable.

I guess I'm naive Ñ I didn't know this kind of thing went on.

[bushisanidiot]

27. I Wish There Was A Way We Could All Get Together And Spam the Spammers

and shut their servers, etc. down

[OldSoldier]

30. I've been wanting to sell a CD for a long time

You've seen the "100 Million fresh E-Mail Addresses!" spam, right? And the "buy this software and be free of Spam once and for all" spam, I am correct?

Now! The highest Technology and Application of Evil Minds have combined to produce the masterwork of the machine age!

"10,000 Fresh Names, E-Mail Addresses and Home Phone Numbers of Spammers and Telemarketers!"

For the low, low cost of only $19.95, plus shipping and handling, you can receive the ultimate weapon in the war against Spam: The addresses of the people who are sending it! And their personal habits, likes and dislikes! Go for it! Send penis enlargement ads to female spammers. Send vagina enlargement pills to the wives of male spammers and really piss those guys off. Send "Cheap Cigarettes" ads to spammers who don't smoke and "Stop Smoking Now" ads to spammers who don't want to quit.

"But where can I find all this fine spam to send out?" Well, that's just it. Thanks to the efforts of the people whose names you'll find on this disc, you've already got it!

Our goal is to fill the e-mail inboxes of spammers so often and so thoroughly that they go into a more socially acceptable line of work, like crack vending.