Comments on: Comments on 13623

Post number 13623

machaus — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:04:13 -0800

Bernard Shifman is a moron spammer. I love detailed spam wars that are this fully documented. Any other ones come to mind? link via GMSV

By: machaus

machaus — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:11:49 -0800

To: 'abuse@google.com' Subject: FW: Article regarding Bernard Shifman ABUSE@GOOGLE. = This person is using your search engine to host a link. please read entire e-mail below to understand how this berson is abusing your service. It is your job to put a stop to this. hehe

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:18:31 -0800

Arrghh! I got one of those spams from this guy a couple weeks ago. Bastard. Any other ones come to mind? There have been a good deal of documented ones, there was one where the person being spammed screwed with an MLM guy for months, eventually finding out where he lived and figuring out he lived with his parents in the basement and alerting them to his son's activities. There was this recent case of someone screwing with a spammer, which turned into a real lawsuit.

By: Hankins

Hankins — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:27:47 -0800

There was also the case of some woman on AOL who was using a program to send thousands of emails to different screennames. Some guy documented his crusade against her, including the personal info he found out about her, and stuff he found on her computer after he somehow gained access (I think). He even went so far as to post semi-nude photos of her that she was using in chat rooms and whatnot.

By: rich

rich — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:44:24 -0800

Hahaha. ahem.. Sorry, that was funny. sol.net. Network Solutions. Small company. Hee hee. Uh, why hasn't only actually brought legal action against the guy? They have quite enough to do it by now.

By: uftheory

uftheory — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:44:43 -0800

I picture this guy Bernard looking like the Max character in Rushmore. Hankins -- that sounds interesting. Got a link?

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:46:44 -0800

ABUSE@GOOGLE. = This person is using your search engine to host a link. please read entire e-mail below to understand how this berson is abusing your service. It is your job to put a stop to this. I thought that was funny, too, then I thought: Wouldn't that be very guerrilla? I mean, you could put up a site, have it indexed by Google, and then point people to the Google page cache, rather than the real site, until the cache expires. No hosting fees! (No images, either).

By: CJB

CJB — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 10:58:39 -0800

uftheory I think this is the link that Hankins is refering to.

By: bradlauster

bradlauster — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 11:10:50 -0800

OH! The link says moron, not morMon. Things are beginning to make more sense now...

By: mokey

mokey — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 11:29:06 -0800

i love reading these thing too... check out the make money fast hall of humiliation though it's never updated despite a post last year saying it was back in business.

By: fnirt

fnirt — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 11:29:34 -0800

If you look at the guy's posts on USENET (via google) he mentions not being able to score "smoke" (in a pot newsgroup) -- someone should get him raided. :)

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 11:38:41 -0800

Hopefully, this court action in California would allow people to really go after spammers if they wanted to.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 11:55:19 -0800

Is it now illegal not to possess weed? :-)

By: glenwood

glenwood — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 13:02:01 -0800

Max character in Rushmore HEY! There's no need to diss Max...

By: quonsar

quonsar — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 13:10:18 -0800

hankins and uftheory - here it is!! great stuff!

By: glenwood

glenwood — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 13:48:43 -0800

sol.net != netsol.com

By: Modem Ovary

Modem Ovary — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 14:14:59 -0800

I could engrave it on a clue-by-four and deliver it to you in Chicago, I suppose. hahahahaha!

By: jennak

jennak — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 14:29:00 -0800

*Zoooooom!* The sound you just heard was this going over my head. Why was the first email from Bernard considered spam? If someone called my work asking if there were any positions, I would not consider that a telemarketing call. (I have never considered unsolicited resumés "spam.")

By: Sinner

Sinner — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 14:37:58 -0800

jennak, I had the same thought, but the reality is that Mr. Shifman was the one who continued to escalate it. It's kind of like he sat down to play poker and thought that despite having the worst hand ever, he could win by bluffing, except he turned out to have been playing in Vegas. I do seriously wonder if he'll ever be able to find work again. That's the problem with a permanent, easily accessible record of your actions.

By: moss

moss — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 14:46:11 -0800

If someone called my work asking if there were any positions, I would not consider that a telemarketing call. Indeed. But if someone called you at home asking if there were any positions, you might become suspicious. This is essentially what happened here--he seems to have emailed several people at addresses that never asked anyone for resumes, and that had nothing to do with any business. Because of this, one suspects that he was just indiscriminately sending out mass-mailings. And of course, his attitude doesn't help.

By: Wildcat3

Wildcat3 — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 14:52:40 -0800

In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: "What a Maroon!"

By: phalkin

phalkin — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 16:01:02 -0800

For anyone who has the time/inclination to actively go after spammers, I've found a nice FAQ on the subject. Great info, imho.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 01:14:12 -0800

Having been in "IT circles in Chicago" for something like a decade, I've never heard of the fellow. Remarkable, considering how influential he is.

By: rich

rich — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 07:54:00 -0800

If he's fishing for jobs, his initial responses to people who turn him away "bitch, fuck off" seems, umm.. very odd.

By: jpbutler

jpbutler — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 11:43:40 -0800

Thanks to Metafilter, Slashdot and all the bloggers who linked to him, the number one Google search result for Bernard Shifman is now this page.