Spam rage vigilante
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In one of the first prosecutions of its kind in the state for "spam rage", Charles Booher, 44, was arrested last week for making repeated threats to staff of a Canadian company.
Booher threatened to send a "package full of Anthrax spores" to the company, to "disable" an employee with a bullet and torture him with a power drill and ice pick; and to hunt down and mutilate the employees unless they removed him from their e-mail list, prosecutors said.
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Hide AdMr Booher acknowledged that he had behaved badly but explained: "I go to their website and start complaining to them, would you please, please, please stop bothering me," he said. "It just sort of escalated ... and I sort of lost my cool at that point."
The Sunnyvale, California man now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He said the problem stemmed from a program he mistakenly downloaded from the internet that brought a continuous stream of advertising to his computer.