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Help! I'm being cyber-terrorized!

thesoundguy1thesoundguy1 Member Posts: 680
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
As many have noticed I've been working on a new web biz(link below).
Just recently, our idea came under attack on another, local message board, and a lot of bashing of what my new biz is about, (the t-shirts
free speech issues,etc.).
That's fine,everyone is entitled to their view.I can live with that.
But one of these people in disagreement with my idea has crossed the line!
For more than a week,we have been e-mailed viruses.My girlfriend,who does this thing with me, managed to track the viruses back to the AOL
account that this same "cyber-punk",recieves e-mail at.
We have Norton anti-virus, and no serious damage has been done.
But, it's annoying,and on this local message board,they have made threats of physical violence against my girlfriend, and anyone who the see wearing our shirts.
My quenstions are: Is this cyber-terrorism? If so, who do we call?
We have been assured that local authorities will not lift a finger,
but, I'm still going to check that angle out.
This cyber-terrorist does live here locally,and I even found his real name!The investigative work is done!
HELP!!!WHAT,LEGALLY CAN I DO?!?!?

www.waveformwear.com
The new wave in free expression.

Comments

  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Contact yours or his web provider and they should take action.

    Eric S. Williams
  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Soundguy he lives there in Mobile?

    Eric S. Williams
  • thesoundguy1thesoundguy1 Member Posts: 680
    edited November -1
    Yep E.W. He a guitar player in a third rate punk band.

    www.waveformwear.com
    The new wave in free expression.
  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I doubt Mobile police will do anything about it they have their hands more than full here lately.Try to contact the net provider.If you were to run into him somewhere you could speak to him personally about it.What is it exactly he has a problem with that your doing?

    Eric S. Williams
  • thesoundguy1thesoundguy1 Member Posts: 680
    edited November -1
    It's mainly a cultural and political thing.He and his friends see our shirt idea as a "raver" shirt(Raver being some one who frequents dance clubs.Punks, or at least his variety of punks, HATE dance club audiences).This guy seems to also have a problem with the idea of constitutionally guaranteed free speech.Their band "advocates" anarchy
    in the literal sense, and openly abhorrs(sp?)capitalism.
    On the various message boards I've successfully argued in favor of free speech, and a free market economy, and the advantages of a republic based on democratic principals, versus anarchy, communism, socialism, etc.
    At that point I wrote the whole cyber confrontation off, because I know their type of "punk".I've worked in the local music biz a long
    time, and what I'm dealing with a spoiled rich kid.When I pointed that out to him, that's when slam postings stopped, and the virus attacks began.

    www.waveformwear.com
    The new wave in free expression.
  • bama55bama55 Member Posts: 6,389 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Soundguy,

    Forward his emails to

    abuse@aol.com

    Explain to AOL what he is doing, sending you virus email and they should take care of it.

    Don't send flowers when I die. Send money now, I can buy more ammo.
  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Buy Norton anty-virus ,block the guy off or forward his own viruses back.... dont open any executable files.........


    Welcome to AMWAY ..... RAT RACE !

    JD

    400 million cows can't be wrong ( EAT GRASS !!! )
  • cowdoccowdoc Member Posts: 5,847 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    out this way the little punk would get the sh$^ kicked out of him with a size 11 boot but the wild west is still alive here. dont know what to tell you but if he is making threats to you and your girl friend you need to let law enforcement know whats up looks to me like.
    i had a run in with some gang banger type punks several years ago in my small cowboy hometown put it this way they got an education.
    doc

    I dont give my guns without somebody getting hurt!
  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Cowdoc thats what I was getting at wih if e should happen to run into him somewhere he could talk in person.These little Mobile punks with the piercings and red and purple hair are punk *'s to the fullest.I had a run in with a couple when I was younger and a friend talked me into going to a punk club with him called Culture Shock they started hassling me telling me I didnt belong and I put up with it until one of them slapped me in the back of the head so I told them if I didnt belong to walk outside and tell me where to go.They learned as well,you dont put your hands on me.Most are spolied little rich kids who think their piercings hair and tattoos are gonna scare you into just letting them do whatever.Not with me.

    Eric S. Williams

    Edited by - E.Williams on 08/17/2002 23:50:08
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Soundguy --
    Glad to hear you have NAV. You might want to add a firewall to be sure, either Norton or ZoneAlarm. Print out everything you receive before you delete it if possible. Make sure you have the latest version of Windows Restore too.

    You want a paper trail. You should call and ask what you need to do to file a police report. If there is a threat made on a public board or by e-mail, be sure and print a hard copy if you can. Save any taped phone message, something like that which is proof. Print out everything you can that directly pertains. Ask that copies be stapled to your police report, if they'll let you file one. Once they have enough, they can knock on his door.

    Sounds like a real baby. ISPs do not stand for this sort of thing, but of course you have to prove it to them too. Use the address for AOL provided to you above and report it. It takes a little time for them to get to you, but they will take a report seriously and they can monitor his account, messages and e-mail with no problem. If they can confirm what you say, they'll boot him. He can always get another ISP until he runs out of options, though. Guys like this get obsessed and can be tough to get rid of. He will try to match you escalation for escalation, no doubt.

    If it gets too bad, I'll try to help you find a hacker who can offer some tips. Meanwhile, check out www.bitdefender.com for some free extra utilities to double check for worms and such.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

    Edited by - offeror on 08/18/2002 01:24:03
  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    soundguy, document as noted above and file a complaint. Then get a restraining order. It's one thing to attack a person's beliefs verbally, quite another to make threats of physical violence. This clown is off on his little power trip thinking he's just so 'kewl' . . . as delightful as it might be to 'discuss' it up close and personally, he's obviously over-impressed with himself and it should not take a lot of effort to tie him in knots with the rope he's giving you. Hey, once you have the restraining order, it's always possible he might actually try to do something and it being AL, I'm sure you and your girlfriend have the means to take care of that problem legally and permanently.
  • VarmintmistVarmintmist Member Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Call his daddy. If hes a spoiled rich kid let daddy know that he is about to be arrested.

    Or, call him and call him by name, from a cell phone, parked outside of his front door, wave, ask him if he wants to keep threating you, wave again.

    Those people who see nothing but grey areas, no black and white, are lost in the fog.
  • NighthawkNighthawk Member Posts: 12,022 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The punishment for making threats via land line or Email etc,is stiffer than for doing it in a Bar,etc.Police now usually take threats of violence more serious than in the past.Also they may be itching to nail him on something else,and your report may give them the reason they need to make entry to his home.

    Best!!

    Rugster


    Toujours Pret
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Varmint --
    I LOVE the call his daddy idea. That actually has a good chance of working.

    As for sitting outside, as funny as it sounds, if he assaults you and you use deadly force you will be in the wrong for having gone over there in the first place. So if you go over there, and he comes after you, use nothing stronger than pepper spray to defend yourself.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
  • thesoundguy1thesoundguy1 Member Posts: 680
    edited November -1
    Thanks for all the input,everyone.I can't express enough, my gratitude to everyone for their advice.
    Today is Sunday and,my girlfriend,who's pretty computer savvy,has managed to track down his real name and even his street address!
    Eric, I remember the Culture Shock, because I did the sound there.
    A real $#!+ hole.By that time the underground music scene in Mobile
    was on a real downward spiral!Rednecks had found the whole "mosh-pit"
    thing to mean a opprotunity to be rude, violent, and destructive.
    I'm sorry you had such an experience. That is not at all what the alternative music philosophy was, of just a few years earlier.
    The bands and audiences of the '80's we very inclusive, any kind of non-mainstream music was appreciated.There was a feeling that anything was possible!
    But those days are obviosly gone.

    www.waveformwear.com
    The new wave in free expression.
  • kaliforniankalifornian Member Posts: 475 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Looks like you've already gotten the best advice: turn him in to his ISP to get him blocked and consider reporting it to the law.

    I have several web sites that I made/maintain and something else you need to be ready for is LOTS of spam and crackpot emails. I suggest encrypting your email address anywhere it appears on your site or posting it only as a graphic rather than text (ie create a button or piece of artwork with your email address rather than using plain text.) This will let people get a hold of you but will block the spammers which will eventually find you.

    The suggestion for a firewall is a great idea, especially if you answer mail from a computer with a static IP address because eventually someone will get a hold of your IP and try to penetrate your system. Also, make sure you update your virus definitions daily or multiple times a week (best if you let the software do it automatically as often as it likes).

    If you ever want some minor revenge without criminal charges, etc., an easy way to make the jerk's life miserable is to post their email address in a few newsgroups and/or sign them up for a "get stuff for free" ad and in a few days or weeks they will be FLOODED with incredible amounts of spam.

    A final thing to consider: while it sounds like in this case the email viruses our deliberate and malicious, new viri like Klez often go through email address books and email them to everyone in your contact list. During the Klez outbreak I got several emails from someone that contacted me through my website and when I emailed them asking why they kept sending me viri, they didn't know what was happenening and I helped them elliminate the virus on their system.

    Good luck with the web endeavor! It can be as fun as it is frustrating.

    So many guns, so little money . . .
  • 4GodandCountry4GodandCountry Member Posts: 3,968
    edited November -1
    Call the police and tell them you are recieving death threats from the guy. File a restraining order and take him to court. The restraining order will make him loose his gun privlages if the system works correctly

    When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
  • Seth K. PerumeonySeth K. Perumeony Member Posts: 119 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think this radical ANARCHIST might be a dangerous terrorist, time to call the FBI 'TIPS' line!

    It's only overrated when it's readily available...
  • VarmintmistVarmintmist Member Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    OK, wave from the street in the car, then drive away

    If you do decide to call him, make dang sure you block caller id, * two didgits, code will be in the front of the phone book.

    Those people who see nothing but grey areas, no black and white, are lost in the fog.

    Edited by - Varmintmist on 08/20/2002 10:32:09
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