Driverman fined $12,000 for spamming

[BadMouth]

I decided to do a search and see if our old friend has been up to anything interesting.
It's from January, but I didn't see where it had been posted here.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11388328

Such a case came to a close at Manukau District Court last week, in what was the first defended anti-spam case in New Zealand, and the first civil pecuniary penalty application to be heard through to completion.

It began back in July 2012, when Auckland man Zeljko Aksentijevic sent 2230 commercial electronic messages that included links to his free Android app Crazy Tilt Arcade Challenge, largely to members of an internet gaming forum, following an online argument.

The emails were mainly abusive in nature but also contained links to a webpage promoting the app.

Aksentijevic had also sent the emails from a number of different email addresses in an attempt to keep his identity anonymous. Even after being put on notice by the Department of Internal Affairs, he continued to send emails.

In ordering him to pay $12,000 last week, Judge Charles Blackie singled out the hostile nature of his emails as an aggravating factor, remarking that breaching the act was one thing but "adding a veneer of abuse" was another.

Last Tuesday: Auckland man Zeljko Aksentijevic fined $12,000 plus costs in the Manukau District Court after sending 2230 commercial electronic messages that included links to his free Android app Crazy Tilt Arcade Challenge, largely to members of an internet gaming forum, following an online argument. It was the first defended anti-spam case in New Zealand, and the first civil pecuniary penalty application to be heard through to completion.

 

[pbj]

So is his app any good or what?

[yotsuya]

That's ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?--- awesome.

[Le Chuck]

Oh man that's awesome. Awesome awesome awesome.

[yotsuya]

The "veneer of abuse" line is interesting. Hipsters,  take notice.

[Well Fed Games]

That made my day. 

[saint]

That is beyond awesome.

[yotsuya]

For the love of drugs, where is he going to come up with the money?

[pbj]

What were his crimes against BYOAC exactly?  I've been around awhile and don't really remember anything...

[yotsuya]

 Oh man, where to begin?

Pretty much the same thing it sounds like he got fined for. He just posted some really, really weird stuff. He also have these weird theatrical personas, that was nothing short of drug-induced, it seemed. He kept coming back with different user names, but it was pretty easy right away to see who he was.

[BadMouth]

What were his crimes against BYOAC exactly?  I've been around awhile and don't really remember anything...

I don't even remember the original arguments anymore.

What I do remember is him using scripts to make massive amounts of spam posts for hours and also trying to hack our BYOAC accounts.

[yotsuya]

He tried to come up with some world wide MAME scoreboard using people's HI files... he argued that XXX- in-1 boards couldn't be illegal because you could buy then from China.... I think he did something with video card drivers as well....

[BadMouth]

Here's some trollin' that was toned down enough to escape post hell:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,108728.msg1156405.html#msg1156405

I wonder what ever happened to Derrick......

[yotsuya]

Heh- he's trollin' on page one of that thread under a different name....

[Vigo]

  If you hadn't posted that article I would never have believed it. Wow.

[pbj]

People around here are taking way too much delight in legal misery just because you dislike someone's personality.

[yotsuya]

People around here are taking way too much delight in legal misery just because you dislike someone's personality.

Says the guy with a bet on James Foley....

[yotsuya]

I just read a different article... Like BadMouth pointed out, he was actually warned by the government to cut it out but he persisted anyway. Yeah, I don't feel sorry for his ass one bit...

I think the site he was spamming was Neo-Geo.com

[yotsuya]

Confirmed photo of Driver-Man:

[Vigo]

<<ABSOLUTELY ZERO SURPRISE>>>

Even the stupid grin on his face saying "It's me! Your friendly neighborhood Driver-Man!"

[dmckean]

Confirmed photo of Driver-Man:

That picture kind of reminds me of this:

[BadMouth]

People around here are taking way too much delight in legal misery just because you dislike someone's personality.

I'll take delight in whatever quantities I can get it.
That "going dark" thread was making me depressed.
This gem here brought me back out of it.



Someone see what Adam David Dave Judd Adams has been up to!!!!

[ark_ader]

Its in NZ currency so that equals about $6000.

Lots of appeals and a psych exam = eventually a plea deal worth $60.

Its NZ and we all remember Kim.Com...

Awww.  And he was so easy to wind up too...

Well there is still Haze to play with. 

[DaOld Man]

How do you know for sure it was him?

His posts started out asking simple questions that would turn into very long and tiring posts where he would argue, then wind up presenting the same question over and over.
His rants about using the parallel port made my eyes bleed.
 

[BadMouth]

How do you know for sure it was him?

Back when he was trolling as abaraba, me and another member came about his real name via two unrelated routes.
When he started annoying people on a google board, they also dug up all his personal info and posted it online as a way trying to make him stop (he didn't).
I'm sure it hasn't helped him employment-wise.  You could read his resume online at one point.  (seems he was doing ok building basic custom database type programs for a while, then had to take a job installing water filters...or something like that).   

This is how the people that reported him were able to give an actual name and address to the NZ authorities.
There is no doubt it's him.

The way I found his real name was that he was proud of a Linux distro he released, so he put his real name on it.  There was a short interview with him on some linux website about it.
It listed abaraba@yahoo as the email address for support.  There was also a link in the article to his blog which contained his usual nonsensical ramblings we'd all recognize, but he dropped his real name in a couple posts as well.  Once I had that, it was easy to find other connections and other usernames that incorporated parts of his real name.

EDIT: [https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.games.mame/b8S-0Nc9fHs/SjSM93GI-O4J
Some classic foul mouth obnoxious trolling in that thread.....

[pbj]

That sounds like an effective use of your time. 

Anyway, I've always found the fixation on 720 to be a bit unusual.  And he's not the only one that shares that interest.  That game was desirable precisely until the moment Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 came out...

[BadMouth]

That sounds like an effective use of your time. 

I use my time on things I enjoy, it's like the google version of watching dateline.

[nitrogen_widget]

That sounds like an effective use of your time. 

I use my time on things I enjoy, it's like the google version of watching dateline.

I don't know the history with this guy so i won't comment on that but I do particularly like it when someone who is being a complete ass-hat is told to cut it out & slapped HARD when they don't.

Those types of people need to learn a lesson in the worst way.

[yotsuya]

That sounds like an effective use of your time. 

I use my time on things I enjoy, it's like the google version of watching dateline.

I don't know the history with this guy so i won't comment on that but I do particularly like it when someone who is being a complete ass-hat is told to cut it out & slapped HARD when they don't.

Those types of people need to learn a lesson in the worst way.

I know, right?

[eds1275]

How do you know for sure it was him?

His posts started out asking simple questions that would turn into very long and tiring posts where he would argue, then wind up presenting the same question over and over.
His rants about using the parallel port made my eyes bleed.

Xaiou?

[ark_ader]

How do you know for sure it was him?

His posts started out asking simple questions that would turn into very long and tiring posts where he would argue, then wind up presenting the same question over and over.
His rants about using the parallel port made my eyes bleed.

Xaiou?

Really?   

[lilshawn]

noice. 

wasn't there a thread a while back with him claiming the parallel port was a far superior zero lag input opposed to usb which had a few miliseconds of delay  ...and andy (of ultimarc fame) not only shot him down, but turned his claim into swiss cheese?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,105987.0.html


ahhh the good old days.

[SavannahLion]

noice. 

wasn't there a thread a while back with him claiming the parallel port was a far superior zero lag input opposed to usb which had a few miliseconds of delay  ...and andy (of ultimarc fame) not only shot him down, but turned his claim into swiss cheese?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,105987.0.html


ahhh the good old days.

I'm still a little miffed no one answered my question about belligerent Kool-Aid Man thing.

[PL1]

I'm still a little miffed no one answered my question about belligerent Kool-Aid Man thing.

Pretty sure it was a nickname that Chad bestowed on Genesim -- there are more related posts in the linked thread.  Oh yeah. 

Chadtower,

How is it arrogant and condescending if it is TRUE!

That's my point exactly, and rather than thinking on it a bit, you staggered forward like a belligerent Koolaid Man.  I gave up on trying to discuss the concept with you many posts ago... I think I'm pretty much done here now as well.   

Scott

[Xiaou2]

How do you know for sure it was him?

His posts started out asking simple questions that would turn into very long and tiring posts where he would argue, then wind up presenting the same question over and over.
His rants about using the parallel port made my eyes bleed.

Xaiou?

 No.

 A Dev challenged him that he couldnt write a better arcade controller driver for 720... cause they didnt want to do the work... and fix the input mess.

 The dev insulted him... then He stepped up... programmed something... though, not sure if what he did was 100%  working.

 He then got into a heated battle with the dev.. cause the dev was balking at his code mthodologies...resulting in backlashes of angry spam gibberish.

Eventually a work around was made... though, in my opinion... its so generic and non intuitive. . Most probably wont even know it exists.  It alsi still doesnt fix all the other arcade interfaces that are not supported...

Anyways.. After many bans.. he returned with a phone based tilt driver.  Which I dont understand... cause its just not gonna give good accurate control... so why even bother?  After that. . Never heard a thing from him aroud here.


 One things for sure... while the guy may have some genius. .. he also has some major mental issues.  Its too bad really.  Hopfully in time, such issues will have a cure.

[pbj]

Well said, xiaou.  Thank you for the recap.

[Howard_Casto]

I will say this, the mame devs have been out of touch for a while.  They are all nice guys and I generally think they do a great job, BUT they have been known to reject code just because they don't like the way it's coded or it goes against their "philosophy".  If there is a bug or the patch somehow deviates from accuracy then sure, but sorry, mame is a group project, if it works, accept it.  If you don't like the way it's structured fix it yourself as you obviously know how you want it. 

Driver was wrong about the 720 thing in a general sense, but he did come up with a working solution.  The appropriate, mature thing to do would have been for the mame team to accept it, thank him for his efforts, and then modify it a bit so that it was more the way they wanted it, and that would have been the end of it.  Maturity seems to be in short supply on the internet these days though. 

I've been silent on this thread but it's been bothering me.  I can't really take pleasure in the misfortune of others at this stage in my life, even if they are "bad" or if they "deserved it"  I always want good things for everybody even if I'm always not that good at showing it.

[SavannahLion]

It's very difficult to respect DM's coding when he goes out of his way bashing every other coder, even when he's deriving his code from their work. From the top of my head he's supposedly created the 720 "driver", Tilt Taxi, a modified BIOS, and a Linux distro with modified OpenGL (IIRC) drivers. Is that "overall" download his too?

It's the modified BIOS that basically closed his doors for me. Gotta have an excellent argument to shove a BIOS hack under the hood and he just didn't have one as most of his argument was deriding the original BIOS authors with almost no groundwork to support him. The Linux distro was a joke, simply a repackaging of an existing distro with some, from what I can tell, simple modifications to the OpenGL implementation. Again, he derided the original developers from top to bottom whose code he used to create that distro. Come to think of it, I think he made the claim at one point that that distro was ALL his code when it clearly wasn't.

He reminds me of a pissed off Steve Gibson.

I can't recall a single scrap of code or program he published that didn't involve pages and pages of technical nonsense and derisive behavior.

[Xiaou2]

It's very difficult to respect DM's coding when he goes out of his way bashing every other coder, even when he's deriving his code from their work. From the top of my head he's supposedly created the 720 "driver", Tilt Taxi, a modified BIOS, and a Linux distro with modified OpenGL (IIRC) drivers. Is that "overall" download his too?

It's the modified BIOS that basically closed his doors for me. Gotta have an excellent argument to shove a BIOS hack under the hood and he just didn't have one as most of his argument was deriding the original BIOS authors with almost no groundwork to support him. The Linux distro was a joke, simply a repackaging of an existing distro with some, from what I can tell, simple modifications to the OpenGL implementation. Again, he derided the original developers from top to bottom whose code he used to create that distro. Come to think of it, I think he made the claim at one point that that distro was ALL his code when it clearly wasn't.

He reminds me of a pissed off Steve Gibson.

I can't recall a single scrap of code or program he published that didn't involve pages and pages of technical nonsense and derisive behavior.

 Dont know anything about that...  but I do know,  that no dev stepped up to allow a real or recreated 720 controller until driverman.

 And to tbis day... no dev has finalized multichannel sound output.   What year are we living in.  ?!

 People are gutting cabs instead of restoring them. .. because mame devs refusal to allow original control inputs. .. multi speaker outputs... etc.    Until howards work.... there wasnt even a way to interface force feedback and lighting.   And still many games are unplayable due to inputs that dont match the hardware.

 When one guy stepped up... he got insulted and blasted.   While his response was way over the top... it was still a reason to get angered.

 Haze will tell you that its more important that time and money be wasted on some pile of turd gambling games... games that nobody cared about when they were new.. and nobody cares about today.. nor even in the distant future.  Lets be real... there are tbings in this world worth saving.... like a vintage car.   Then there are things that people should just plain burn... like Radioshack speakers. They hold zero value in anyones perspective... because they are cheaply made speakeds with wretched sounding drivers.

[ark_ader]

I will say this, the mame devs have been out of touch for a while.  They are all nice guys and I generally think they do a great job, BUT they have been known to reject code just because they don't like the way it's coded or it goes against their "philosophy".  If there is a bug or the patch somehow deviates from accuracy then sure, but sorry, mame is a group project, if it works, accept it.  If you don't like the way it's structured fix it yourself as you obviously know how you want it. 

Driver was wrong about the 720 thing in a general sense, but he did come up with a working solution.  The appropriate, mature thing to do would have been for the mame team to accept it, thank him for his efforts, and then modify it a bit so that it was more the way they wanted it, and that would have been the end of it.  Maturity seems to be in short supply on the internet these days though. 

I've been silent on this thread but it's been bothering me.  I can't really take pleasure in the misfortune of others at this stage in my life, even if they are "bad" or if they "deserved it"  I always want good things for everybody even if I'm always not that good at showing it.

Well said.  Haze was a principle instigator of this policy when he was running the show before Aaron took over.  It pissed a bunch of people off.  I do not condone this type of mentality or behaviour, as most coders are notoriously ---smurfing--- lazy, but a standard should be set and followed for submitting work to a project.  If it doesn't reach this standard then the work should be rejected.

Again I agree, with you on the "good things intended for everyone", but like my hero, Mr. Foley, he is serving time for being a naughty boy, not to mention being ridiculed for some comical and ironical circumstances...

DriverMan has been caught and is having to sell his beloved 720 and Linux box to pay his restitution.  I'll say just its karma, and leave it at that. 

Maybe you could "pay it forward" and crowdfund his debt to help him out.