Man gets "spam rage" over penis ad - threatened to send a "package full of Anthrax spores"

reuters ^ | Sat 22 November, 2003 04:47

[Vanilla Witha 9]

SAN FRANCISCO (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.

In one of the first prosecutions of its kind in the state that made "road rage" famous, Charles Booher, 44, was arrested on Thursday and released on bail for making repeated threats to staff of a Canadian company between May and July.

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 Satan@hell.org. In a telephone interview with Reuters on Friday, Booher acknowledged that he had behaved badly but said his computer had been rendered almost unusable for about two months by a barrage of pop-up advertising and e-mail. "Here's what happened: I go to their Web site and start complaining to them, would you please, please, please stop bothering me," he said. "It just sort of escalated ... and I sort of lost my cool at that point."

The Sunnyvale, California man now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for next month on charges of threatening to injure someone. He said he did not own any guns or have access to anthrax.

Booher said the problem stemmed from a program he mistakenly downloaded from the Internet that brought a continuous stream of advertising to his computer.

The object of the Californian's anger was Douglas Mackay, president of DM Contact Management, which works for Albion Medical, a firm advertising the "Only Reliable, Medically Approved Penis Enhancement."

"This went for a long, long time. He seemed really dedicated to this," Mackay said from Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. "He seemed like a guy just crazy enough with nothing to lose that might actually do something."

He said his firm does not send spam but blamed a rival firm which he said routes much of their unsolicited bulk e-mail through Russia and eastern Europe. Mackay said such firms gave a bad name to the penis enhancement business.

In other cases, Internet vigilantes have bombarded spammers with both unsolicited e-mail and regular mail and phone calls, launched attacks on spammers' computers and posted spammers' personal information on the Internet, according to reports.

Separately, lawmakers in Washington said the U.S. House of Representatives was poised to vote for on a measure to outlaw most Internet spam. Lawmakers hope to pass a national anti-spam bill before a much tougher California state law goes into effect on January 1.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Sounds like they hit a nerve.

[anniegetyourgun]

Heck, his response is mild compared to what I'd like to do to spammers. I'll just have to bide my time until I can develop that program that returns their spam and simultaneously melts everything within 50 feet of the receiving machine.

[billorites]

"such firms gave a bad name to the penis enhancement business."

Uh, huh.

[blau993]

Mackay said such firms gave a bad name to the penis enhancement business.

Do you think he said this with a straight face?

[Southack]

He'll beat the rap.

Ahhh, you know that he's going to "get off".

This will be a hard case to try.

His arrest was a long time coming.

[Snuffington]

Mackay said such firms gave a bad name to the penis enhancement business.

These guys think they have a good reputation, but for a few bad apples?

[Free_at_last_-2001]

it'll never stand up in court!

[Drango]

It should never be illegal to harm a spammer.

[bert]

Where is the name and address of the spammer?

[Vanilla Witha 9]

Satan@hell.org

[zygoat]

He's facing a stiff sentence.

[Agnes Heep]

It won't be long now.

[Cicero]

IMHO they're going after the wrong guy. They should send a SWAT team up to Canada.

[Dacus943]

LOL!!!

I think he blew this way out of proportions!!!

[hillary's_fat_a**]

I really sympathize with the guy - I hope he beats the rap. I feel the same way about spammers - especially those that continue to spam after you ask to have your name removed from their database.

[knuthom]

If there was ever a case where jury nullification was justified, this is it.

[BlessedBeGod]

FYI:

Unwanted Penis Web Ads Prompt Calif. Spam Rage 20 minutes ago

[Criminal Number 18F]

Mackay said such firms gave a bad name to the penis enhancement business.

Anybody else wonder about this? I mean, this guy is a fraud artist and he presumably said that with a straight face, and some reporter wrote it down and filed it in a story....

You have to love governments. A guy who loses his cool because scam artists ping on him, goes to jail, and the scam artists go free.

On the other hand, any guy who pays Douglas Mackay to extend his Johnson probably deserves to be ripped off.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[knak]

They are pretty bad, I get them on my regular email address and it has an obviously female name to it.

[Skooz]

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,

That'll do for starters.

[Skooz]

Charles Booher should be memorialized with his own commemorative stamp. And a statue. And a holiday. And the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[Sockdologer]

This is the sort of guy I wouldn't mind having coffee with.
Evil spammers.

[Gone_Postal]

it seems bigger than it really is

[CalvaryJohn]

I wonder if this guy has ever heard of a firewall, or bothered to learn anything about e-mail settings. Me thinks his energies could have been better directed.

[steve-b]

Frankly, "outlawry" in the old-fashioned sense of the term (i.e. the target is placed outside the protection of the law, and may be done unto without penalty by anyone with the ability and inclination to do so) is probably the best solution to the spam problem. I doubt it would come to physical violence -- but it would guarantee that a spammer's server would be remotely converted into a large paperweight within minutes.