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Spammer Gets Spam Mailed 347

Posted by CmdrTaco from the couldn't-have-happend-to-a-more-deserving-fellow dept.
ssblood noted a story about a spammer getting what he deserves as well as a related story from the Register. Essentially the virtual spammer is capable of sending a billion emails a day, and is getting sacks of physical junk mail from irritable folks. Apparently part of this plot was hatched on familiar turf too.
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Spammer Gets Spam Mailed More

Spammer Gets Spam Mailed

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  • Dupe alert! (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:09AM (#4891491)
    ..and first post?

    • Re:Dupe alert! (Score:4, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:11AM (#4891498)
      Not only a dupe, but a lot of us watched it happen. Slashdot is posting an article about itself? I know you got married Taco (congratulations), but have you been under a rock?

      • Under a rock? (Score:3, Funny)

        by ackthpt ( 218170 )
        No, just doesn't get around as much any more, with that ball and chain around his ankle ;-)

        Damn, and I thought this was going to be a story about another dipsh!t getting his due.

    • Re:Dupe alert! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:48AM (#4891614)
      There's quite a lot of duplicate news stories here, most often citing the same URL as the previous story. I'm wondering, how much work would it be to adapt the "enter new story" script the editors use to do a search for similar urls or stories in say the past month? Given the article posting rate and the amount of readers /. has, the server won't even notice, and with a search engine already in place I doubt it would be hard to implement. So what's keeping them from adopting a simple technological measure to improve the quality of their site?

      Lourens

      • Re:Dupe alert! (Score:3, Interesting)

        by tdemark ( 512406 )
        Forget given them a tool they have to use -- make it automatic.

        As part of the subimission process, compare the included URLs to the URLs of previous stories and generate a warning page if there are matches.

        Something along the lines of:

        WARNING: Duplicate URL
        http://www.example.com/foo/bar.html
        Date: Dec 14, 2002
        Article: Article Title

        and

        WARNING: Similar URL
        http://www.example.com/foo/bar.htm
        Date: Dec 2, 2002
        Article: Article Title

        Continue with story submission?
        -Yes- -No-

      • Re:Dupe alert! (Score:3, Funny)

        by 1u3hr ( 530656 )
        So what's keeping them from adopting a simple technological measure to improve the quality of their site?

        What's keeping them from spellchecking? What's keeping them from seeing if the links posted are valid, let alone relevant?

        After all, each "editor" must post three or even four paragraphs of text a day. Would it kill them to check it? Obviously, the answer is they don't give a fuck.

  • Dupe story? (Score:2, Informative)

    by vicviper ( 140480 )
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/06/155422 7&mode=nested&tid=133

    Or should I go back to bed on a Sunday morning...

    • Re:Dupe story? (Score:5, Funny)

      by skroz ( 7870 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:27AM (#4891752) Homepage
      Yeah, but Taco was out with his new bride when the first one was posted. Do you really expect him to be reading his site ON HIS WEDDING NIGHT? I can see it now... carrying her across the threshhold of the honeymoon suite, gruffly depositing her on the bed, whipping out his Zaurus (no, not THAT "Zaurus..." the one with the, er, stylus. I mean, batteries... no, that's certainly no good. Digital screen, yes. The zaurus with the digital screen...) and searching feverishly around the hotel room for a nearby WAP so he can read his website.

      CowboyNeal, maybe, but Taco?

    • Re:Dupe story? That's ok! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15, 2002 @01:58PM (#4892359)
      It's a great chance to rake in the karma! Just go back to the original post and copy some of the +5 posts.

      On a more serious note, however, I have just right now been struck by a great (original) idea, and have decided to write this, a spontaneous and completely original, post:


      I am writing this article to request something for a terminaly ill boy.

      Alan M Ralsky is a seven year old boy who has terminal cancer. His ambition before he dies is to be included in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest collection of post cards.

      My request is that EVERYONE who reads this posting send at least one post card to him at:

      Alan M Ralsky
      6747 Minnow Pond Dr
      West Bloowfield Township, MI 48322-2663

      Please pass this information on to as many people as possible. Let's make a child's dream come true before its too late.

      Best wishes.

      A hopeful person.

  • The only infallible law in the universe is... (Score:4, Funny)

    by i_want_you_to_throw_ ( 559379 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:11AM (#4891500) Journal
    karma...

    Ain't it a bitch?

    And I don't mean /. cheapened use of the word.
  • Ok....? Getting back a little of what you dish out justifies calling people "Out of their minds". I can see if they were firebombing his house, but sending him junk mail? ;) Come on Alan, what're you thinking. This has to be the best story ever. The funniest thing I've heard today at LEAST!
  • ...with old news, wonder why I even bother to point this out...

  • Dupe. (Score:2, Informative)

    by fatbitch ( 187319 )
    Original Here [slashdot.org]

  • Errors in counting? (Score:4, Funny)

    by dr_eaerth ( 149359 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:13AM (#4891511)
    "Almost 300 anti-Ralsky posts were made on the Slashdot.org Web site..."

    Sure that sounds impressive, but how many of those were dupes [slashdot.org]?

  • What's so bad about Slashdot? (Score:4, Funny)

    by The AtomicPunk ( 450829 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:15AM (#4891517)
    ... that the editors themselves obviously don't read it ??

  • Dupe: A great reminder (Score:5, Funny)

    by joshua42 ( 103889 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:16AM (#4891521)
    Yeah, keep postning this story every and then as a reminder so the junk mail pressure on this guy does not ease off...
    • Yeah, keep postning this story every and then as a reminder so the junk mail pressure on this guy does not ease off...

      I don't think it's anything so malicious as that. It's just gloating. 'La la la, we made Ralsky's life hell, la la la!'

  • Spammers?John Poindexter is getting a taste too. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:17AM (#4891524)
    John Poindexter is also getting a taste of his own medicine. Check out this article [sfweekly.com]. They've got his address and everything.

    • That's not a taste of his own medicine.

      A taste of his medicine would mean everyone keeping track of where he is going and what he is doing. e.g. everyday someone sticks gps modules on his cars and puts the info on a website. Someone pointing a webcam at his front door (not his bedroom window).

      People calling up his home phone number and pestering him or his wife is something totally different. That's like telemarketing.

      BTW the article sucks too. No imagination. Sure you don't like that person or what he's doing, but how does asking members of the public to call his home phone help?

      The article also talks about California seceding. Where does CA get water from? They are going to have to build a lot more waterworks from north to south. Not sure if north CA has enough water to cover the south's needs as well as its own. I'm sure some states would be fine with CA leaving, since they'll have a better chance of getting their fair share of water. Mexico might even start seeing the Colorado _river_ again.

      The US-ca could start charging California a lot more for electricity from the Hoover Dam too.

      Then the US-ca could indulge in a bit of schadenfreude: watching everyone in California battle each other over the power and water issue: the usual "no nuclear power", "no fossil fuel plants", "not in my backyard" etc.

      Silly article.
      • To add and update a bit to this:

        Some guy came up with a plan to fill bags (100ft wide and 800ft long) with Northern CA river water (in excess) and tow them to Southern CA (where it's needed). Recently, this plan was shelved since one of the first steps (California-wise, at least) involved environmental-impact studies for the rivers the bags would be filled from. The studies would have cost $1 million per river.

        I think this sums up CA's problem; progress is definitely dampened by such reluctance to move into the unknown, and the level of assurance desired is simply too expensive. That, and the fact that you shouldn't build cities in the desert or even an arid land.

        To expand upon this article with personal opinion:

        I think the USA has more than lost national identity and will Balkanize within a generation. But like the Congress thinking that declarations of war are "anarchronistic" (ref. Rep. Ron Paul), actual secession will also be an anachronism. The secession will be accomplished by other means. A mixture of official and unofficial methods will be used to make sure that Californians stay in, and non-Californians stay out. We kind of have that kind of thing now, scattered over America as local policy; if you are a Black man, try wandering around your town's wealthier sections and see how long it takes before a cop stops you ... and takes you back home (... or to the "big house" ... remember, as soon as you stop moving on the public way, you are "loitering" and thus subject to arrest).

        To dimly predict, it might occur that the CA legislature votes for an "assurance bond" for people moving into CA. To live there, you must present $10000 in cash or a bond good for same to local authorities. Of course, this doesn't say "you can't live in CA", but for people unable to come up with $10K, it does say that ... and official language once again doesn't match unofficial intent. (I modeled this prediction on the experience of a petroleum engineer and his wife (a teacher) when they moved to New Zealand for a year. NZ required them to have $50K on hand just to get into the country.)

        Time will tell. That's the good part about the future ... it's going to arrive anyway, so you'll find out eventually.
    • Meta-discussion here [sfweekly.com]. Note the signatures of Gorge Bush and Oliver White displayed prominently at top right.

  • CmdrTaco needs..... (Score:3, Funny)

    by CSG_SurferDude ( 96615 ) <wedaa@weWELTYdaa.com minus author> on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:19AM (#4891529) Homepage Journal

    Let us alll forgive CmdrTaco on this cheerfull Sunday morning, since it's obvious thatCMDR TACO NEEDS TO DRINK HIS #$%#$% COFFEE before posting stories!

  • Sending mail back to spammers really isnt new, I dont see why it hasnt become mainstreme. I get about 10-20 spam e-mails every day and I just reply to them. If you consider it, lets say a spammer sends out 1000 e-mail messages from his hotmail account. Now lets assume each one of these is 3k, if everyone replies to his e-mails and sends his own message back hotmail will shut down the account! There is no need to sign them up for anything special, just reply to their e-mails! So what if some of the are automated. I was getting spam from a company over a period of a year and kept replying to it every day. It turned out that there was a bot doining the mailing so my messages were never deleted, they just sat there. After 9 months I got an e-mail from them telling me to stop imediatly because their web-account had run out of space and their server suspended their account. Other people must have been doing this as well, or maybe my e-mails just built up over time. My point is this, always reply to ur spam mail, 3 or 4 times.

    • Re:Hmm this really isnt new (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Saint Nobody ( 21391 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:30AM (#4891561) Homepage Journal

      never reply to your spam mail. sometimes the address will be forged, and you'll be harassing some poor shmuck. sometimes you're just replying to a bot that notes you as a valid email address. plus, if you do wind up on a spammer's bad side, you're probably more likely to be the victim of a forged address.

      by replying to spam, you're betting that your spammer is ethical. do you really want to make that bet?

    • 2, points:

      1) This has to do with sending real (snail) mail to a spammer, not email. It is a lot easier to filter out email then it is to go through 300+ letters a day to figure out if any of them are important.

      2) By replying to spam emails, you are probably doing yourself nothing but harm. I agree with your basic point, if everyone replied to every spam and swamped the spammer's network, it would work. Since that isn't the case, the only thing you are doing by replying is letting the spammer know that he has a valid email address.
      • It is a lot easier to filter out email then it is to go through 300+ letters a day to figure out if any of them are important.

        Yeah, especially if some of them look really like important bills and legal documents, or domain-name renewals.

        Oops, did I just suggest something?

    • Re:Hmm this really isnt new (Score:4, Informative)

      by BlowChunx ( 168122 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:03AM (#4891651)
      I think the best thing to do is to bounce it back to the spammer. I know that both KDE's Kmail and MacOS X's mail.app have this feature.

      Essentially, it's better than replying. Not only does it go back to where it came, but it also looks like your email address is invalid, potentially removing it from spammer's lists. (Kind of like the Telezapper works for telespammers...)
    • This is much, much better. You don't have to give away your e-mail address, and you can be rest assured that they'll be getting email forever. Just make one post with their email address anywhere on Usenet. They'll be on spam lists for years, possibly even getting their own spam. Just one little post will set it off. A few spammers will pick it up, use it, sell it, re-sell it, etc.
    • ARE YOU FUCKIN NUTS?

      Spammers harvest "VALID" emails by people who respond.

      Am I lying? Check out the source code of the "remove me" link some time.

      Can't believe you support people spamming everyone....

      Or maybe this is propaganda to harvest more emails...by getting more and more people to REPLY to those emails, you will make more money

      either way

      YOU'RE NUTS, and should be duped /.'d immediately.

      Yo Grark
      Canadian Bred with American Buttering

    • Re:Hmm this really isnt new (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MonkeyBoy ( 4760 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:52AM (#4891850)
      I hate to break the news to you, but of all the spams I've received over the past 2 days, not a single one was SENT from the account that is listed on the reply-to address. In fact, if you read the contents of the spam, you'll usually see them point replies to a completely different address, and "remove" requests to another (usually bogus) address. In not a single case does the subnet of the sender, nor the mail server used to relay the message, match any email address contained within the spam.

      Now, that's not to say that there are idiots out there who are ignorant enough to send spam with their own return address via their ISP's mail server, nor do I mean to say that there aren't enough spam-friendly ISPs out there loaning bandwidth to spammers running their own server farms (like the scumbag weasel $!@#$@# who's currently getting ever-increasing amounts of old-fashioned junkmail). I'm just saying that it's unlikely your actions will cause the effect you intend, as spammers who operate in the manner you need are in the minority.
    • I'm constantly getting "Undeliverable Mail" notifications for spam that has me listed as the sender. Were I actually sending people these e-mails, I would absolutely deserve whatever bitch-slapping my recipients decided to inflict. But I'm not.

      Reverse harassment is a dangerous game, because the person you harass may be just as much a victim as you are.

      BTW, can anyone give me advice on how to track down the guy who is sending these things on my behalf?

  • I was hoping (Score:5, Funny)

    by www.sorehands.com ( 142825 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:27AM (#4891547) Homepage
    I was hoping that this was a report of Ralsky being hospitalized for paper-cuts because of all that spam.


    If anyone is sued by Ralksky, get discovery! Get his spams and make them public so that 1000s of people can file lawsuits against him for spamming.

    • If anyone is sued by Ralksky, get discovery!

      I know what you're saying here, but my first thought when I read this sentence was "You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals so let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel." Maybe Ralsky needs to be sent to prison for a while so his cellmates can start saying this to him.

      (In case you don't know, the above quote is from BhG's 'Fire Water Burn')
      • In case you don't know, the above quote is from BhG's 'Fire Water Burn'.

        No, actually it's not [bloodhoundgang.com].
      • Maybe Ralsky needs to be sent to prison for a while so his cellmates can start saying this to him.

        Oddly enough, there is another spammer known as "Bubba Catts". Google for him. (You'll find his address. :^)

  • Now for Phase 2 (Score:5, Funny)

    by NeuroManson ( 214835 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:35AM (#4891574) Homepage
    Sign him up with every mailing list for porn magazines, and several Christoid magazines. Also pay a few bucks for an order of Jack Chick tracts (www.chick.com).

    Better still, spoof his IP, and create accounts on known Al Qaeda supporter websites, so the next knock he gets on the door will be from the FBI. Imagine his glee when all his funds are snatched up as money tagged to support terrorism.
    • 3. Profit!

      We've finally gotten it! It's like the monkeys.. and shakespear thing.. I knew it wasn't an NP problem :)
    • Nah... Need not pay anything. I'm sure someone could make sure he pays for all he consumes...

      And I'm sure he'd LOVE some pizza!
    • Hmmm - he promised his wife he wouldn't email porn...now I wonder if someone
      could get him in deep trouble with his missus by faking porn from HIS address
      - now THAT would be punishment enough :-)

    • Read this article (hilarious in it's own right) about the postal experiments [improb.com]

      In particular note the bit about the fish and seaweed being mailed: "postal supervisor warned our mailing specialist that he could be fined for mail service abuse, even as a recipient, should this happen again."

      I think just signing the guy up for mailing lists is missing out on the truly beautiful possibilities offered by the USPS.

  • Anti-Spam Activist Threatened (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:35AM (#4891576)
    Dear SlashDolts,

    Why re-post old news when there's new news available? Interesting new news, as a matter-of-fact. See:

    http://www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend13_20021213.h tm

    Suff That Matters, eh? Right.

  • Clearly the best story on that page is the genius of the person using Fedex's parcel tracking to find out where Santa lives :)

    Tracking a package to Santa

    South Haven photojournalist David McCreery uses Federal Express a lot and is fascinated with the tracking feature on the FedEx Web site (www.federalexpress.com) that lets you watch as your package makes its way to its destination.

    "I send FedEx packages every few weeks," he says. "Once, I sent a package to Bowling Green and watched it leave Michigan via Flint for Memphis, come back to Flint and then drive to Ohio."

    So, this being the holiday season, he decided to FedEx a letter to Santa, wondering: "How far would a package to the North Pole go? How would it get there? Where would it end up? Who would sign for it?"

    You can follow the progress of his letter on his personal Web site (www.davidm.net), where he posted his letter and the FedEx tracking number.

    Read the results, linked from here [davidm.net], over here [fedex.com].

  • /. editors don't read the papers they cite (Score:5, Funny)

    by ravenwolff ( 605916 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:37AM (#4891585)
    Very interesting and sure to be controversial study that suggests most /. editors don't read the papers they cite. This means that if one paper misreads a work the misreading propagates. It's a very interesting study and has big implications for geeks, in my opinion. /. has a good overview of the work. Given that most attention to work has been in sloppy work on the experimental side (poor methadology or outright fraud) this suggests a whole other problem. A lot of the ultimate problem is that many in /. are concerned more about publishing than in solving the issues they investigate. Ideally the point both in science and in academics in general is to understand the ideas. Yet those of you who've looked up footnotes realize that actually engaging the ideas of other editors typically falls by the wayside. Often footnotes are there simply because references are needed. Engaging others works is secondary. I've always thought that the hard geeks were more immune to that effect than the humanities. I guess not."

  • What about his lawyer? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wowbagger ( 69688 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:40AM (#4891591) Homepage Journal
    Considering that /. listed the lawyer's address as well, what is happening to the lawyer and the law firm?

  • Holy /. Paradox Batman! (Score:4, Funny)

    by skinfitz ( 564041 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:51AM (#4891626) Journal
    I wouldnt mind, but not only has it been covered TWICE by /. already, it was BECAUSE it was on /. that the article referenced was even written!!!!

    ARRGGHHH!!!!

  • bored this sunday morning (Score:5, Informative)

    by deus_X_machina ( 413485 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @10:53AM (#4891627)
    If you haven't already heard...

    Taken from http://www.spamhaus.org

    found here [spamhaus.org]

    Alan M. Ralsky
    Telephone: 248-926-0688
    Current email address: amr777@comcast.net

    Address : 6747 MINNOW POND DR Property ID: 18-31-177-002
    City/State/Zip: W BLOOMFIELD MI 48322-2663

    Owner Name : RALSKY ALAN M Latitude : 42.5460
    Taxpayer Addr.: 6747 MINNOW POND DR Longitude : 83.4284
    City/State/zip: W BLOOMFIELD MI 48322-2663 Census Tract: 1566.00
    Block Group : 9
    City/Vill/Twn : WEST BLOOMFIELD
    Subdivision : BLOOMFIELD PINES SUB NO 2
    School Dist : WALLED LAKE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS
    Prop Category : RESIDENTIAL
    Land Use : SI SUBURBAN IMPROVED, TOWNSHIP ONLY
    • Cool, missile addresss, now to link him to Al Queda...

    • Hehe - I just ran a e-mail validation on that mail-adress:

      [Contacting mx00.comcast.net [24.153.64.1]...]
      [Connected]
      220-mtain01 -- Server ESMTP ("Comcast Messaging System")
      220 Unsolicted bulk mail prohibited; spammers will be prosecuted
      HELO Network-Tools.com
      250 mtain01 OK, [66.46.181.116].
      VRFY amr777
      252 2.5.0 Possible remote address not checked.
      RSET
      250 2.5.0 Ok.
      EXPN amr777
      550 5.7.2 EXPN command has been disabled.
      RSET
      250 2.5.0 Ok.
      MAIL FROM:
      250 2.5.0 Address Ok.
      RCPT TO:
      250 2.1.5 amr777@comcast.net OK.
      QUIT
      221 2.3.0 Bye received. Goodbye.
      [Connection closed]

    • Thanks!
      His new subsciption to Oprah magazine is on it's way. Merry Xmas Alan!

  • Feedback? (Score:4, Informative)

    by SteweyGriffin ( 634046 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:01AM (#4891644)
    Please forward questions, complaints, and replies to:

    ALAN M RALSKY
    6747 MINNOW POND DR,
    WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI 48322

    Seller: BING CONSTRUCTION CO
    Property Address: 6747 MINNOW POND DR, WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI 48322
    Sale Date: 8/28/2002
    Recorded Date: 9/12/2002
    Sale Price: $ 740,000

    • Re:Feedback? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Basje ( 26968 )
      LOL. All the junkmail arriving there will actually drive the price of the house down too. Imagine, his whole lawn strewn with it

    • Re:Feedback? (Score:5, Funny)

      by mcgroarty ( 633843 ) <brian DOT mcgroarty AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday December 15, 2002 @12:16PM (#4891945) Homepage
      Mr. Ralsky's feedback...
      Ralsky, who is one of the biggest senders of unsolicited bulk e-mail in the world, says anti-spammers have been harassing him for the past year. Lately, said Ralsky, anti-spammers started flooding him by snail mail with coupons, brochures and ads. "I just toss them right into the wastebasket," he said. "It doesn't bother me."
      That, from an article [freep.com] in Detroit Free Press.

      The immature thing to do here would be to take that as a challenge, or a suggestion that you're just not trying hard enough , or that you're not yet doing your part. But thankfully, we're all adults here, right?

  • Punishment for dupes (Score:5, Funny)

    by hubbabubba ( 309496 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:06AM (#4891662)
    Anybody got Taco's snail mail address? ;-)

  • What about his postperson? (Score:5, Funny)

    by cmeans ( 81143 ) <chris.a.meansNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:15AM (#4891706) Journal
    You've got to believe that this all this physical "junk mail" is causing problems for his local post person (if not the post office itself) too...maybe they'll go "Postal" on his ass just to lessen their work-load.

  • There oughta be a weekly profile... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mtec ( 572168 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:21AM (#4891724)
    Let's make 'dup think' work for good, not evil...

    Spammer of the week.

    Ya' know - a puff piece profile. Who they are, what they do in their spare time, what their favorite color is, name address and phone number, shirt size...

    I'm serious. Why not?
  • This is great, but he will eventually straighten this out, hire someone to sort out his real mail, or learn to deal. This will not deter him. To make this guy REALLY miserable, we should send the junkmail to his neighbors addresses with his name on it! This would be especially effective using the porn junkmail!!!

  • Ralsky gets even! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Skapare ( 16644 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:45AM (#4891821) Homepage

    Alan Ralsky, who may just be the world's biggest sender of internet spam, has been getting a taste of his own medicine. But now the tide may be turning, he reports.

    "They've signed me up for every advertising campaign and mailing list there is." he says. "But, I will get even. I know who they are and I know what to do." he adds with a mischievous grin.

    Reports have been coming in from all around the internet about the duplicates. First there was just one or two. Then there was ten. Yesterday there were a few hundred. And today, over twenty five thousand duplicate stories have been posted on the famous geek forum called Slashdot [slashdot.org], where the campaign against Ralsky was hatched.

    "It's not me." says Ralsky, interviewed outside his home, which is surrounded by hundreds of postal bags because no more room remains inside. He adds "I don't do story submissions. Hell, I didn't even know the place existed until a few weeks ago."

    Another truck arrives, and 3 postmen deliver 25 more bags of mail. Over half the yard is covered in bags now.

    "I know who these guys are now. My lawyers were looking into this, but I've never heard back from them, so I just had to take matters into my own hands." says Ralsky as small snicker shows up in his grin. "It's all about getting even, and I know what these people hate the most; it's duplicate stories." he goes on saying "In Soviet Russia we didn't have people doing things like this; mail bags would deliver you away."

    Ask when all this might come to an end, Ralsky replied "You just wait until I try out all the mod points I managed to get."

  • The repost makes me wonder: are there any legitimate updates to the story? Is he still recieving tons of s-mail? How's his legal action going? Has he had an insight, and sworn off spamming? Anyone? Anyone?

    • Re:Any Updates (Score:5, Informative)

      by zaren ( 204877 ) <fishrocket@gmail.com> on Sunday December 15, 2002 @12:15PM (#4891943) Journal
      Yes, there was an update:

      Free Press article [freep.com]:

      MIKE WENDLAND: Behind the scenes, spam's even uglier

      December 13, 2002

      Bloomfield Township spam artist Alan Ralsky is in the midst of yet another controversy, this time involving an anti-spam activist who says someone left him threatening telephone messages after he took photos of Ralsky's brand-new $740,000 house.

      The activist, Rich Clark of Warren, said he's reported the threats -- which were left on his answering machine -- to police. He said it all started last weekend when he drove to Ralsky's neighborhood to snap some photos for an anti-spam Web site.

      Clark said as he was taking his pictures from the street, someone left Ralsky's house, got into a black car and tried to block him from driving away. Clark said he maneuvered around the vehicle, but was followed.

      The next day, the phone calls started.

      "You don't know who the hell you were . . . with yesterday," began the first call. "You got the wrong guy. You don't even have the guy you think you do."

      The caller then gave details about Clark's home, his driver's license number, even the bank his car was financed through.

      A second call said: "I'm going to make your life so miserable you should watch every corner you go into, bro, every second."

      The next day, there was still another message. "Just waiting for you," it said. "You haven't heard the beginning of what's going to happen to you yet. Keep your eyes open."

      Clark provided me copies of the recordings. Are they from Ralsky? It was hard for me to tell. I asked Ralsky, and he said he knows nothing about it.

      "Come on," said Ralsky, "That's ludicrous. I'm not that stupid."

      He said he had no idea who was in the black car that Clark said left his driveway. "I don't have a black car," he said. "And I'm 57. I'm not about to go chasing anyone. But what was that guy doing taking pictures of my house for, anyway?"

      Clark says he took the pictures to post on an anti-spam Web site (he hasn't decided which one). He now plans to add the audio files from the phone messages.

      Warren police said Clark's report is on file, but there is no investigation in progress.

      Ralsky, who is one of the biggest senders of unsolicited bulk e-mail in the world, says anti-spammers have been harassing him for the past year. Lately, said Ralsky, anti-spammers started flooding him by snail mail with coupons, brochures and ads. "I just toss them right into the wastebasket," he said. "It doesn't bother me."

      You might also want to check the following Usenet thread in news.admin.net-abuse.email:

      Google News [google.com]

      which includes links to mp3s of the threats left on his answering machine.
      • I've posted my story on a website here [geocities.com]. I got too curious and decided to go for a ride, since this guy was right on the way home from a service call at work. Best to hit the photo mirrors here [2mbit.com] so the photo sites can be a bit more distributed.

        I had a story submission on this that Taco and his bunch have sat on since Friday morning. Why?

        Rich

  • Funny.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by PunchMonkey ( 261983 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @11:57AM (#4891876) Homepage
    Funny... I thought Groundhog day wasn't until February...
  • Now that everyone knows who he is I get the feeling some crazed anti-spammer is going to go kill the poor guy. I mean, some of us really do hate spam that much, don't we?

  • Ralskys House (Score:4, Interesting)

    by spacefight ( 577141 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @12:25PM (#4891985)
    I guess you're all interested in this [chickenboner.com], ok, more or less :) Yes, the Jaguar actually followed the spotter and he got threaten on his voice mailbox [geocities.com]. Mirrors here [2mbit.com].

  • New picture of The House that Spam Built (Score:3, Funny)

    by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @12:31PM (#4892019) Homepage
    He's made a few modifications to reflect the business that he runs from his house. (Hope he's got a business licence for that.) Enjoy! [chickenboner.com]

  • Strange co-inkydink (Score:5, Funny)

    by mtec ( 572168 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @12:32PM (#4892023)
    I was looking up some information about Sir Walter Raleigh and I came across a new word!

    'Ralsky'

    SYLLABICATION:
    ralsky

    PRONUNCIATION:
    ral - skee

    ADJECTIVE: Inflected forms: ralskeer , ralskyest 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied. 5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job. 6. Boasting to a newspaper writer ill- advisedly


    ex.He ralskyed about his windfall and then the IRS confiscated his belongings Huh! Go figger...

  • Get yourself off some lists easily (Score:4, Informative)

    by stomv ( 80392 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @12:32PM (#4892024) Homepage
    We don't like direct marketers, but we should have the least amount of venom for the The Direct Marketers Association [the-dma.org]. They maintain legitimate opt-out lists for email, telephone, and junk mail. Not every "marketer" uese 'em, but those that do use the lists only use them to opt customers out.

    If it reduces just some of the harassment, isn't it worth it?

    Less junk mail [dmaconsumers.org]
    Fewer telemarketers [dmaconsumers.org]
    Less spam [dmaconsumers.org]

    And BTW: don't be lazy and use the $5 Internet option. Print out the page and pop it in the post for less than 10% of the cost.

  • And in Future News... (Score:5, Funny)

    by AndroidCat ( 229562 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @01:09PM (#4892167) Homepage
    Dateline Dec 25th, 2002

    Officials are baffled as a house at 6747 Minnow Pond Dr was found this morning to have been completely buried under a pile of coal. Officials refused to speculate as to how this could have happened, only that it must have been during the night. Off the record, one annoymous source said "It was Big Red. See, he's got all these e-mails from kids to keep track of, and after one penis spam too much, he just snapped. He put Al went on the list, and it wasn't the nice one, understand?" When asked about repercussions, he only said "Sure, let's see him try to mess with the fatman. He's be reindeer chow."

    Film at 11.

  • ...and want to have the satisfaction of signing Mr. Ralsky up for a few more mass mailers, here's his address which was posted the last time this story appeared.

    Buyer: ALAN M RALSKY
    Buyer Mailing Address:
    6747 MINNOW POND DR, WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI 48322
    Seller: BING CONSTRUCTION CO
    Property Address: 6747 MINNOW POND DR, WEST
    BLOOMFIELD, MI 48322
    Sale Date: 8/28/2002
    Recorded Date: 9/12/2002
    Sale Price: $ 740,000 (Full Amount)
    • > the satisfaction of signing Mr. Ralsky up for a few more mass
      > mailers

      Signing him up for mass mailers lacks imagination and is easy for
      him to counter. (Bulk mail is usually obvious and easy to sort
      out.) Some better ideas...

      * Send him a personal letter in a hand-addressed envelope.
      (Don't be nasty; that would just be grounds for a lawsuit.
      You could explain why you don't like spam, though, and ask
      to be taken off all his lists. But be courteous about it.)

      * Send "pen pal" mail to a few hundred thousand third-graders
      with his name and return address. (This one might be illegal;
      consult a lawyer first. IANAL, just brainstorming here.)

      * Send him a can of Hormel product, nicely wrapped, with a
      gift card.

  • How many lifetimes has he wasted? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sbaker ( 47485 ) on Sunday December 15, 2002 @01:19PM (#4892211) Homepage
    I was always impressed by Steve Job's comment to the guy who was writing the Mac bootstrap code. The guy was complaining that it wasn't worth optimising the bootstrap loader any more because it was fast enough already. I don't Steve's exact words - but it was something like: We will sell 100 million of these machines - if each of those people boots their machine once a day for five years - then that's 15 billion reboots. If you can save just one second from the reboot time of the Mac then that's 480 YEARS saved.

    So shaving one second of the boot time is like saving the lives of 50 people. What
    could be a more noble activity than saving human lives like this.

    So - applying that math to this spammer: If he sends out ten million spams a day and it takes 1 second to delete each one - and if this guy does that every day for five years - then that's morally equivelent to murdering 50 people.

    Just because the damage he does to each individual is small, the cumulative damage is huge.

    There is another story (probably apochryphal) about the guy writing the banking system software who changed the code to take the roundoff error (less than a half cent) from every interest calculation and direct it into his personal account. The story goes that he made tens of thousands of dollars a week. This story probably isn't true - but should such a person be considered any less a criminal because the money he stole was spread so thinly? Obviously not - he stole those thousands of dollars and that's that.

    This spammer deprived the people of the world of 50 human lives - he should be considered a mass murderer and treated accordingly.
  • When he wrote about the problem when a small fraction of everyone in the world can suddenly concentrate on a single location and overload everything.

    Substitute the Internet for teleportation and if, instead of "Flash Crowds", he'd called them "Slash Crowds"... :^)

  • Hey let's go further, let's give his phone number to telemarketers. He is a supposed millionaire, I am sure he would be delighted to receive wonderful business opportunities by phone.

    I'm sure some slashdot reader knows someone who can insert him in some databases of people to "telemarket".

    Oh wait, why not sell his information. After all, others do it every day otherwise I wouldn't receive those calls for a security for my house.

    (Sorry if this post is redundant, I haven't read all the posts)

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