Spam Rager Among Those Charged With Cybercrime
from the pretty-damn-angry dept
Yesterday we wrote about how the Department of Justice was congratulating themselves on arresting a bunch of folks for online scams. Today, a bit more news comes out about some of these "scams". One of them appears to be a guy who got extremely pissed off at some adware and threatened one of the companies using the adware. The details aren't entirely clear, but it appears that the guy blamed the adware on a company claiming to be the "Only Reliable, Medically Approved Penis Enhancement" company. So, he contacted them and demanded that they stop flashing ads on his computer, and when they didn't comply he went a bit overboard and threatened to send them anthrax or to shoot them. Of course, it's a bit difficult to have much sympathy for either a spyware/adware company or a company offering penis enlargement products - but, my only question is why is this considered a "cyber" crime? If the guy made threats, then he made threats. The fact that a computer was involved should have nothing to do with it. The other issue here is that there are any number of folks who go a bit far in their anti-spam crusades, and this suggests that government has no problem going after them - rather than working on stopping real online scams like, say, places that promise they offer the "Only Reliable, Medically Approved Penis Enhancement."Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Next generation cybercrimes?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
Recently, I found a piece of spyware in a Logitech driver, which was really screwing up my system. When I found out that Logitech put it there purposly, I made it a point to tell everyone I see, especially those people I see picking up Logitech equipment at the computer store. It has been amazingly effective. Most people are immediately put off the Logitech device, and go for another one. No threats, no dark dealings. Just word of mouth.
Of course, you can't really do this with most penis enhancers.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]