larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) (05/25/88)
Approximately one week ago, a few of the comp.* groups were treated to a "send one dollar" posting by an allegedly impoverished undergraduate college student. These postings have now returned with an order of magnitude greater comp.* group distribution, as shown by our log file, to wit: May 24 23:01 sunybcs received <5807@cup.portal.com> ng comp.cog-eng,comp.databases,comp.dcom.lans,comp.dcom.modems subj 'HELP ME!!AA' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:01 sunybcs received <5808@cup.portal.com> ng comp.editors,comp.edu,comp.emacs,comp.edu.composition,comp.fonts subj 'HELP ME!!!A' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:01 sunybcs received <5809@cup.portal.com> ng comp.graphics,comp.ivideodisc,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.apl subj 'HELP ME!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:02 sunybcs received <5810@cup.portal.com> ng comp.lang.asm370,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.forth subj 'HELP ME!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:02 sunybcs received <5811@cup.portal.com> ng comp.lang.forth.mac,comp.lang.fortran,comp.lang.icon,comp.lang.lisp subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:02 sunybcs received <5812@cup.portal.com> ng comp.lang.lisp.x,comp.lang.misc,comp.lang.modula2,comp.lang.pascal subj 'HELP ME!!!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:05 sunybcs received <5820@cup.portal.com> ng comp.os.rsts,comp.os.v,comp.os.vms,comp.os.xinu,comp.periphs subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:05 sunybcs received <5821@cup.portal.com> ng comp.periphs.printers,comp.protocols,comp.protocols.appletalk subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:05 sunybcs received <5822@cup.portal.com> ng comp.protocols.ibm,comp.protocols.iso,comp.protocols.misc subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:05 sunybcs received <5823@cup.portal.com> ng comp.protocols.pcnet,comp.protocols.pup,comp.protocols.tcp-ip subj 'HELP Me!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:05 sunybcs received <5824@cup.portal.com> ng comp.software-eng,comp.sources.bugs,comp.sources.d,comp.std subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:06 sunybcs received <5831@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.att,comp.sys.cbm,comp.sys.cdc subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:06 sunybcs received <5832@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.celerity,comp.sys.dec,comp.sys.dec.micro,comp.sys.encore subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:06 sunybcs received <5833@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.handhelds,comp.sys.hp,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.net subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:06 sunybcs received <5834@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt,comp.sys.intel,comp.sys.intel.ipsc310 subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:06 sunybcs received <5835@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.m6809,comp.sys.m68k,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.hypercard subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:06 sunybcs received <5837@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.sys.misc,comp.sys.northstar subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:07 sunybcs received <5838@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.nsc.32k,comp.sys.proteon,comp.sys.pyramid subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:07 sunybcs received <5841@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.tahoe,comp.sys.tandy,comp.sys.ti,comp.sys.ti.explorer subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:07 sunybcs received <5842@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.transputer,comp.sys.xerox,comp.sys.zenith,comp.terminals subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:07 sunybcs received <5843@cup.portal.com> ng comp.sys.zenith.z100,comp.terminals.bitgraph,comp.terminals.tty5620 subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:07 sunybcs received <5844@cup.portal.com> ng comp.text,comp.theory,comp.theory.cell-automata,comp.unix.aux subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:07 sunybcs received <5845@cup.portal.com> ng comp.unix.cray,comp.unix.microport,comp.unix.questions subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:07 sunybcs received <5847@cup.portal.com> ng comp.unix.wizards,comp.unix.xenix,comp.windows.misc,comp.windows.news subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com May 24 23:08 sunybcs received <5850@cup.portal.com> ng la.eats,la.general,la.news,la.seminars,misc.consumers,misc.forsale subj 'HELP ME!!!' from JJ@cup.portal.com This is not only abusive, but is now just plain sick. Didn't this "JJ"-character get the message from resultant flames the FIRST time? Where is the system administrator of Portal System? Does the Portal System condone this type of en masse posting as an "expression of free speech", and/or is the Portal System receiving a percentage of "the take"? I will leave as an execise to the reader to consider the possible legal implications of using interstate communications ("by wire") to solicit the sending of money "by mail" to a blind post office box, no less. And we don't even have the real name of the alleged impoverished student. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York <> UUCP: {allegra|ames|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> VOICE: 716/688-1231 {hplabs|ihnp4|mtune|utzoo|uunet}!/ <> FAX: 716/741-9635 {G1,G2,G3 modes} "Have you hugged your cat today?"
mcb@tis.llnl.gov (Michael C. Berch) (05/26/88)
[Re articles posted by JJ@cup.portal.com soliciting funds for personal use] In article <2530@kitty.UUCP> larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman) writes: > I will leave as an execise to the reader to consider the possible > legal implications of using interstate communications ("by wire") to > solicit the sending of money "by mail" to a blind post office box, no less. > And we don't even have the real name of the alleged impoverished student. and in article <3647@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu> max@eros.UUCP (Max Hauser) writes: > [...] > Well, this person is transmitting a plea throughout at least the United > States for mailed money and is stipulating explicit purposes to which it > would be put. Therefore, in contrast to many Usenet gambits that are > merely obnoxious, JJ's would seem to fall within the purview of the US > fraud-by-wire and other federal statutes, and therefore eligible for the > attention of the US Department of Justice, including the FBI. Any eager > young D-o-J attorneys out there who might want to take it and run with it? First of all, I quite agree that the articles represent a gross abuse of the net, and sent a strong letter to root@cup.portal.com and usenet@cup.portal.com, neither of which has been answered (though I understand that Portal has yanked "JJ"'s account. Some of you may remember when a similar situation arose when multiple articles were posted by a garyt@ihlpa.ATT.COM a few weeks ago containing a bizarre commercial announcement about a weight-loss plan to a large number of inappropriate newsgroups. That aside, I wonder as a legal matter whether US federal mail fraud/wire fraud statutes would or should apply to the solicitation of funds for personal purposes across state lines. Assuming for the purposes of argument that "JJ" is in fact a student, what law has been violated? I do not believe that it presently is, or should be, a crime to solicit funds except where the solicitor makes fraudulent misrepresentations in connection with the solicitation (e.g., claiming to be a charity, falsely claiming that the donor will receive valuable consideration, etc.) or where the solicitation involves trespassing, breach of the peace, etc. (as in anti-panhandling laws). Anybody have a learned opinion on this? Michael C. Berch mcb@tis.llnl.gov / {ames,ihnp4,lll-crg,lll-lcc,mordor}!lll-tis!mcb
north@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Michael J. North) (05/26/88)
I called the Portal about 15 minutes ago. The person who answered the phone had reasured me that "JJ's" account had been nuked yesterday. I was especially annoyed because this little 1 dollar plea made it out to the transputer mailing list (for which I'm the moderator). Our mailing list has quite a few sites in Europe which receive this. The United Kingdom (and others in Europe) operate on a pay as you go system....... meaning they pay a certain amount for every byte of drivel they receive.......... -- Michael J. North "Last one out gets the speech synthesizer!" Cornell Theory Center, 265 Olin Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-5201 UUCP: {allegra,decvax,ihnp4,vax135}!cornell!batcomputer!north Arpa: north@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu