Posted on 12/06/2002 3:43:37 PM PST by A.J.Armitage
West Bloomfield bulk e-mailer Alan Ralsky, who just may be the world's biggest sender of Internet spam, is getting a taste of his own medicine.
Ever since I wrote a story on him a couple of weeks ago (www.freep.com/money/tech/mwend22_20021122.htm), he says he's been inundated with ads, catalogs and brochures delivered by the U.S. Postal Service to his brand-new $740,000 home.
It's all the result of a well-organized campaign by the anti-spam community, and Ralsky doesn't find it funny.
"They've signed me up for every advertising campaign and mailing list there is," he told me. "These people are out of their minds. They're harassing me."
That they are. Gleefully. Almost 300 anti-Ralsky posts were made on the Slashdot.org Web site, where the plan was hatched after spam haters posted his address, even an aerial view of his neighborhood.
"Several tons of snail mail spam every day might just annoy him as much as his spam annoys me," wrote one of the anti-spammers.
Ralsky is indeed annoyed. He says he's asked Bloomfield Hills attorney Robert Harrison to sue the anti-spammers.
(Excerpt) Read more at freep.com ...
I object.
Is your junk mail in your mailbox identified so?
Wouldn't work. They'd just move their servers to Canada or the Caribbean.
The only solution that would even slightly work would be to extend the "junk fax" law to cover spam as well. That would, of course, have the same problem as your suggestion, but at least it would FORCE the people involved to move out of the US or face unlimited class-action lawsuits, and also force (if written correctly) all major Net backbones to cut off access to the IP addresses of all spammers no matter where in the world they come from.
A saleman came by and sold them the idea of cheap adverstising, told them the people being contacted have asked to be contacted. The people buying the advertising just never stopped to think how illogical this is that someone would actually want an unsolicited ad from them.
So what do you say when you call? You berate them. Be nasty, rude, hostile, vulgar. Sound as mad as you possibly can. Don't make personal threats. But definately lay into them.
If they hang up, call back and ask to speak to a manager.
Talk calmly and rational to the manager if you get him. Completely shift gears. Don't admit to being rude or hostile. Tell him you would never act like that. You just would like his help.
Tell him you want removed. He will make an excuse that it is the company he contracted with for the advertising and that you need to contact them. Remind him that he is the one that sent you the ad, then tell him you will hold while he calls that company. Be a very nice, persistant pest and tie up as much of his time - nicely - as you can.
If he hangs up, call back and innocently say, Gee, we must have got cut off, were you able to get a hold of that company. I'll continue to hold.
If they get calls like these, they will get the message. You have to fight back.
You mean, like, latitude, longitude, and target elevation?
</me begins dusting off war surplus nuke (mailordered from Kazakhstan!)>
Indeed it is. Subsidy-rate junk mail stamps are obviously distinguishable from normal first-class ones.
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