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Comments: 328 +- Your Rights Online: Prison Terms For Spammer Ralsky, Scientology DoS Attacker on Tuesday November 24, @12:00PM
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tsu doh nimh writes "Alan Ralsky, the 64-year-old dubbed the 'Godfather of Spam,' was sentenced to 51 months in prison on Monday, the Washington Post's Security Fix blog reports. According to anti-spam group Spamhaus.org, Ralsky has been spamming since at least 1997, using dozens of aliases and tens of thousands of 'zombies' or hacked PCs to relay junk e-mail. Also sentenced — to 40 months in jail — was Ralsky's 48-year-old son-in-law, Scott K. Bradley, and two other men named last year in a 41-count indictment for wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and violations of the CAN-SPAM Act."
And eldavojohn writes "19-year-old Dmitriy Guzner, Anonymous member and Scientology DDoS attacker, received one year and one day in jail for his admitted crime. His sentence could have been a maximum ten years. According to the Church of Scientology, Anonymous has harassed and attacked them with '8,139 threatening phone calls, 3.6 million e-mails, 141 million hits on its website, ten acts of vandalism against its property, 22 bomb threats, and eight death threats against Church leaders.'"
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Church of Scientology (Score:5, Funny)
Scientology members complaining about being harassed is like Mormons bitching about missionaries knocking on their doors.
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Funny)
I was going to reply to this, but I'm going to have to have my lawyer check the gag order first.
Parent
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Insightful)
When I woke up today and used the internet.
Scientology was the first organization I am aware of that successfully forced an internet anonymous email service to dig up and disclose information about its clients. All over copyright claims. I am referring to anon.penet.fi, the famous anonymous remailer we all used in the 90s.
In the early days when nobody cared about what "we" did with the internet, we knew that for every asshole that was up to serious evil, there were 10 smart guys who didn't care what your deal was, but hated assholes and could route around them. There were jackasses, but technology always beats jackasses.
Then the law came, and all of that got a lot harder.
Today we have the ability to make "highly" anonymous network connections but we rely on a small group of very VERY dedicated people to make that possible.. [people with the wherewithal to run TOR exit nodes, for instance].
Those entities [be they CoS or rotten governments] who want to destroy free speech must not be tolerated by us.
I remember my senior year of college when I got a takedown-letter about hosting DeCSS. And you know what? I folded, because I had a good job lined up that required I _not_ be a felon. Freedom of speech lost a little bit and I helped give it away, because a warm bed and a normal life are more convenient than principles and freedom.
Our enemies know that, and they attack the weakest of us not to get rid of one or two, but because of the chilling effect it has on the rest of us. No one can escape the law forever, and thus the law, which is supposed to protect the freedom of one man from the encroachments of another, is used as their tool for enslaving us to their desires.
I'm a fallible man and most of us are. That doesn't mean we don't deserve to hate the entites that continue to attack us by perverting the institutions we designed to protect ourselves.
I congratulate the "moralfags" [as they are called within anonymous] who are fighting back. Sometimes, it comes at a high cost, like with this guy.
Parent
Tor by default (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't see request for Tor by default [ubuntu.com] in Ubuntu. What about other distros or other onion routers? That would increase the base. Amnesty or Human Rights Watch or The Democracy Center all have a stake in onion routing. To take the thread in the same direction, but further, the group that backed Bush may have left the top offices in the administration, but it has not entirely left power. And the voting machine problem is not yet solved. Those are still under their sphere of influence.
Phil Zimmermann's Why I Wrote PGP [philzimmermann.com] and OpenSSH's SSH FAQ [openbsd.org] are two works that come to mind first about privacy. Most countries recognize the natural right to peaceable assembly. Do the corporations that now have larger budgets and more political clout than some small countries also those rights? You know the answer. The price of freedom is not just eternal vigilance, the cost also includes acting to proactively resolve threats to that freedom.
Parent
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Insightful)
Correct.
And because I've never died, I also do not carry life insurance of any kind.
Because I've never been raped, I don't pay attention to my surroundings or the people nearby.
Because I've never been hit by another car, I don't wear a seatbelt.
Of course, everything I said above is false.
Even though none of those things have happened to me, they've happened to other people who _are like me_. And as a result, I've modified my behavior and in some cases suffered a monetary loss.
This is what is known as a "chilling effect". A great tragedy befalls a handful of individuals, but all individuals realize it could have just as easily have been them. This causes massive behavioral change on a wide scale.
This is exactly the pscyhology used by terrorism, infact. The goal of terrorists isn't to kill all people or even certain people -- it's to kill enough people to effect behaviorial change on a large popupation.
The goal of Scientology [and the RIAA, and other agents of censorship that have the power of the state behind them] is similar. They know they can't get everyone or even most people. But they don't have to -- getting a few people now and then will persuade many others into changing their behavior.
I haven't done a detailed study, but everytime there is a CoS article on slashdot, a LOT of the comments are posted by Anonymous Coward. Why is that? Why are people unafraid to openly criticize the catholic church -- often with blatantly vulgar remarks, and yet so few are willing to do the same against the CoS?
Fear. Fear is the difference. If the CoS wants to rule its own members via fear, that is lamentable and a great reason not to associate with the CoS. But the CoS wants to rule non-members and specifically CoS antagonists via Fear as well.
I don't think it is unreasonable to despise an organization that has already engaged in activities designed to control me via Fear.
Parent
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:4, Interesting)
When was the last time you were harassed by a Scientology member?
When one of my University teachers became a scientologist and hijacked the whole class for months to discuss Dianetics as the "new science for management and self-improvement for success in the 21st century".
Problem is that since Scientology is not registered as a religion in my country, the school's heads were not aware of the inappropriateness of her actions and it took over three months of protests from several students for them to find out and sack her.
Parent
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Informative)
When was the last time you were harassed by a Scientology member?
When my husband divorced me after the center discovered that while he was a Scientologist, I wasn't. You see, they don't allow you to befriend (unless you're trying to recruit), much less marry, non-Scientologists. This was a number of years ago before most people, including me, knew what a fraud and cult this "religion" is.
They will convince the convert that anything bad that happens to him is because they're not being a good scientologist. My husband was just laid off during the 80's downturn in oil. Although he did get another job right away, it was obvious they impressed on him that being with me was causing all these bad things to happen. Our marriage had been happy until this happened.
One reason Travolta kept refusing to admit his son was autistic, is because (any mental illness or perceived by the church as mental illness) is believed to be caused by their contact with "non-clear" (non-Scientologists). Which means they often blame mental illness on the family.
Parent
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Insightful)
Spamming doesn't ruin lives.
Parent
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Insightful)
AFAIK CoS isn't kidnapping unwilling people and forcing them to become members, so it's kind of Darwinian in principle.
No, but as soon as you join they can kidnap you. [wikipedia.org]
Parent
To Name One (Score:4, Informative)
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Hmm... [smh.com.au] I don't agree.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Church of Scientology (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because the government wants to play the role of Chamberlain does not mean Hitler should not be opposed.
Scientology is a patently evil organization and should be opposed by any and all means.
I do not see Anonymous as heroes, I see them as ordinary people doing what needs to be done.
Parent
141 million hits on its website? (Score:3, Insightful)
Since when is visiting a website vandalism? This is terrifying! /. could have me arrested for almost 10 years of visiting!
Re:141 million hits on its website? (Score:5, Funny)
Well, your refresh script obviously failed because you didn't get the first post.
Parent
Re:141 million hits on its website? (Score:4, Insightful)
When you do it with the attempt to stop the server... That is vandalism. Slashdot having a lot of people who want to read the content is not vandalism it is not having the correct server capacity. As always the difference is intent.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Not a lazy man at least (Score:3, Funny)
'8,139 threatening phone calls, 3.6 million e-mails, 141 million hits on its website, ten acts of vandalism against its property, 22 bomb threats, and eight death threats against Church leaders.'
Well, that's one way to keep busy.
Re:Not a lazy man at least (Score:4, Informative)
He didn't hire a small army, he was part of a small army.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Chanology [encycloped...matica.com] - NSFW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanology [wikipedia.org]
Parent
Re:Not a lazy man at least (Score:4, Interesting)
Project Chanology has nothing to do with the orchestration of DDoS attacks and harassment attempts with the Church of Scientology.
The members of the small group that decided to perform these attacks did this on their own which caused losts of infighting between Anonymous since performing anything illegal goes against Project Chanology's cause.
Parent
Re:Not a lazy man at least (Score:4, Insightful)
Just FYI for those who don't have the time or inclination to decipher 'Anonymous' and '/b/'s sarcastic parody insider language: Anonymous is not a "group" in the traditional sense. Nobody "joins" Anonymous. Everybody who feels like doing a prank is a member of Anonymous for the moment they are doing the prank and they are not as soon as the prank is done. Anonymous has no consensus or agreement on their goals or motives. Nobody can request action on behalf of Anonymous ("Anonymous is not your personal army").
More than anything else "Anonymous" is a term or meme that describes the mob effect that occurs in response to shared outrage or shared giggles. In this way it is not entirely unlike Slashdot. It is ridiculous when someone says 'Slashdot believes this' or 'Slashdot agrees with that'.
It is grossly unfair for Guzner to get the blame for over 9,000 phone calls and the rest as a "member of Anonymous". Nobody is a member of Anonymous, and everyone is a member of Anonymous.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
However I find it funny that Scientology has such specific figures, especially on the phone calls.
If you plan to take legal action for harassment, it behooves you to document that all.
scientology (Score:4, Funny)
Sorry, what was the website URL again?
Ralsky's the guy that Slashdot spammed... (Score:5, Informative)
He took it right in the ass. It was beautiful.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/06/1554227 [slashdot.org]
Scientology is not a religion! (Score:5, Insightful)
...it's a tax evasion scheme.
Re:Scientology is not a religion! (Score:5, Informative)
If you had phrased that in the form of a statement backed by references, you might not have been modded flamebait:
"Didn't France convict the CoS of fraud? ( http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/27/france.scientology.fraud/index.html [cnn.com] )"
or
"Arnaldo Lerma tells us that, 'when I asked why Scientology was now being called a church, I was told that it was for tax purposes.' ( http://www.lermanet.com/LRonHubbard2.htm [lermanet.com] )"
Something like that might have gotten the flamebait mods countered by positive ones... even if it (and this post) are likely somewhat off-topic for this particular article.
Parent
In Defense of Anonymous... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In Defense of Anonymous... (Score:4, Funny)
Never gonna C-C-C-break your combos
Parent
scientology (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Who gave you the ability to decide that, the Pope?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
All real churches involve pasta and pirates.
Re:scientology (Score:5, Informative)
They are a cult.
People are put in physically or emotionally distressing situations;
Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which is repeatedly emphasized;
They receive unconditional love, acceptance, and attention from a charismatic leader;
They get a new identity based on the group;
They are subject to entrapment (isolation from friends, relatives, and the mainstream culture) and their access to information is severely controlled.
From everything I've read about and seen of Scientolgists and Scientology, they do all of those things.
Contrast that to say...Judaism or Islam, theres a big difference.
Parent
Prison talk (Score:5, Funny)
"So, you're the guy who keeps sending me those male enhancement meds spam huh?"
"No sir, i'm only specialising in female spam, nothing else!"
"Yeah, right! well i'll make an example for the next spammer who dares saying that i need such drugs!"
*drops pants*
"Mommy!"
Dmitriy Guzner: (Score:5, Informative)
secularist martyr
you don't fight vile "religions" that zombify and enslave the weak with kind words and cupcakes
this is the way the mafia known as the church of scientology plays:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White [wikipedia.org]
turn around is fair play
Hrmmmm (Score:3, Funny)
'8,139 threatening phone calls, 3.6 million e-mails, 141 million hits on its website, ten acts of vandalism against its property, 22 bomb threats, and eight death threats against Church leaders.'
part of me mentally read all of those numbers as 'over 9000'
yah but... (Score:4, Funny)
"Anonymous has harassed and attacked them with '8,139 threatening phone calls, 3.6 million e-mails, 141 million hits on its website, ten acts of vandalism against its property, 22 bomb threats, and eight death threats against Church leaders.'"
They always say that.
Ok... (Score:3, Interesting)
8,139 threatening phone calls, 3.6 million e-mails, 141 million hits on its website, ten acts of vandalism against its property, 22 bomb threats, and eight death threats against Church^Wsect leaders
Where do I send fan mail for this guy?
Anonymous is winning (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:dark side of the coin (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:dark side of the coin (Score:4, Insightful)
Back in the USSR, they used to respond with dissent by calling it the result of mental illness. After all, the dictatorship of the proletariat always had the best interests of the common folk at heart. If you disagreed with its policies, it must be because you are a poor suffering victim of some kind of anti-social personality disorder.
Parent
Re:dark side of the coin (Score:5, Insightful)
Personality disorders, like, extreme anti-government paranoia? Or confusing basic regulations for Stalinist policies?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
What prevents Stalin the 2nd from happening in the USA? Have we just been lucky to not have anyone that mean be born here? Are Americans just a better judge of character than the Russians?
I'm not so presumptuous to think that Russia is better at making tyrants than we are, or its people are more predisposed to misjudging politicians.
The difference between everywhere else and the USA is that
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:dark side of the coin (Score:5, Funny)
do you really want the government deciding which is which?
The government doesn't really decide that. We do. We complain, the government investigates. It isn't a proactive measure that the government is taking.
However we could have issues if it grows to something similar to the FCC.
Parent
Re:dark side of the coin (Score:4, Insightful)
Freedom of speech implies that the recipient wants to listen.
It does? Then it's not freedom of speech, it's freedom to hear.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That's cool, I'm going to come knock on your door for the next three years. The knocking is just a bit of a nuisance and since you've done your part and locked me out all is well right?
Somehow I feel that if I did that I would be looking at a solution that comes from the point of a government gun.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It's part of the US's Common Law background. A prison sentence for a felony is longer than one year; it's one of the things that distinguishes a felony from a misdemeanor.