Marketer Challenges Anti-Spam Crusader

[Metgod]

just shows how pathetic some people really are..

washingtonpost.com
Marketer Challenges Anti-Spam Crusader


By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 7, 2003; Page E01


Every day, dozens of spam e-mails land in computer in-boxes advertising instant wealth, quick weight loss and cheap pornography.

Francis Uy, a self-described computer geek from Ellicott City, decided to fight back by employing a tactic increasingly used by a small cadre of e-mail users fed up with spam: Outing spammers by posting their addresses and phone numbers on the Internet, enabling network operators to block their e-mail or to sue them.

But Uy's target is counterattacking, resulting in a court date today in one of the more personal and unusual spam litigation cases to date. George Allen Moore Jr. of Linthicum argues that Uy's site is harassment and wants it pulled off the Internet.

Some anti-spam vigilantes use the information to give spammers a taste of their own medicine, bombarding them with e-mail, signing them up for catalogues and products they did not order and flooding them with phone calls.

In court filings, Moore claims he received about 70 packages and 200 magazines at his house because of Uy's site, as well as numerous phone calls with threatening messages such as "we are watching you" and "don't start your car."

"I contacted him, but he would not take the pages down," said Moore, whose Maryland Internet Marketing Inc. sells anti-virus software and the kinds of products that often are advertised by unsolicited e-mail: Extreme Colon Cleanser, FAT-N-EMY and Extreme Power Plus.

Moore insists he is not a spammer, because he contracts with other companies to market his products.

Moore, who uses an e-mail moniker of Dr. Fatburn, said in an interview that Uy broadcast the presence of his Web site on numerous Internet discussion areas, which incited others to harass him. In his filing in Anne Arundel County District Court, he also accuses Uy of making some of the calls.

So Moore contacted Howard County police, and secured a temporary court order that generally is reserved for keeping spouse abusers away from their targets.

But while the order prevents Uy from going near Moore or his property, it does not require Uy to pull down his Web site. And Uy vows a court fight for his First Amendment right to publish it.

"My Web site doesn't say anything about harassing him," Uy (pronounced Wee) said. He denies ever contacting Moore directly, except through an initial phone call when he first got an unsolicited e-mail advertising some of Moore's software products.

"I told him I didn't appreciate spam, and he hung up on me," said Uy, though Moore later called back.

Uy, a self-described "Web geek" who does tech work for a distance learning center at John's Hopkins University, said he remembers the exact date he first saw electronic spam and resolved to fight back.

It was April 12, 1994, before e-mail even existed in its current form.

"I had a chill," said Uy, who said he is in his thirties. "It was a feeling that this is what the Internet will be like."

Uy said he never imagined he would be engaged in a legal battle with a major alleged spammer in court.

"I see myself as a Netizen" who fears that the growing spam epidemic is damaging the Internet, he said. "They say you should think globally and act locally. Well, the Internet is my neighborhood. We all need to pitch in and keep the place clean."

He said had been considering exposing a spammer for some time, but was waiting for a "strong case."

Software that attempts to filter out spam from e-mail are not adequate and are too easily circumvented by spammers, he said.

"I like filters, but they're not going to solve the problem," he said. "Solving the problem means getting rid of the spammers and making them stop doing what they're doing."

His site urges people to consider filing small claims suits against bulk e-mailers, under Maryland's spam laws.

Uy acknowledged that some Internet providers have, at Moore's urging, taken his site down because it is critical of another person. The site is currently being hosted by an anti-spam sympathizer.

Uy added that he did not know the address he posted was for Moore's home, since it had been listed on public records as Moore's business address.

Moore is no stranger to battles over his activities. He is identified as a prolific spammer by Spamhaus.org, which maintains a worldwide directory of notorious bulk e-mailers that serves as a blacklist for Internet network operators trying to reduce spam.

Meanwhile, Symantec Inc., makers of Norton anti-virus software that Moore sells at cut-rate prices, claims that the versions that he provides are pirated.

"We're aware of the guy and we know what he's doing," said Chris Paden, director of corporate communications for the company.

Paden said Symantec bought copies of Moore's products online, and determined they were counterfeit. He said the matter has been referred to the company's attorneys.

Moore said he sells official versions of the software, and has never been contacted by Symantec.

"If I was doing something wrong, I think I would have heard," Moore said.



© 2003 The Washington Post Company

[wilnix]

SPAM - It's what's for dinner.

wilnix