[news.sysadmin] Gross abuse of the Net: "Send Dollar" postings return

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