Anyone who has ever frequented newsgroups such as comp.graphics.apps.photoshop or alt.graphics.photoshop has at some time heard of Art Schwartz. Art is a well-known spammer who trolls those groups looking for email addresses; his "business" is offering downloads of programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Photo-Paint, Draw, Maya, and so on for $29. He does this through his Web site, Perfect Shareware, a site which claims to offer links to download commercial software for free.

Perfect Shareware and its various aliases (there are many domains registered which all redirect to the Perfect Shareware main site) have been around for a number of years. They were formerly hosted by an ISP called Cove Software Systems, an outfit which achieved some noteriety by hosting child pornography in the past, and which continued until very recently to host warez sites and other criminal activities. (Cove Software Systems no longer hosts anything at all; they were recently acquired by Superb Internet, proving once again the rule that the normal course of business of spam supporting ISPs is to go bankrupt.)

Back to Art. He's a rabid, long-term email and Usenet spammer, and he pushes his warez on a large number of Usenet newsgroups. So he's a software pirate, right?

Well, no. He's not actually a pirate. You see, Art has no software on his servers. He doesn't actually deliver the products he promises. Those people who give out their credit cards typically get screwed. He's actually in the business of credit card fraud, not piracy.

So what does this have to do with me?

Priodically, someone posts on comp.graphics.apps.photoshop a message along the lines of "I just got an email from a guy named Art Schwartz offering me Photoshop cheap--is it good?" In the past, I've usually responded by posting a link to the Perfect Shareware Handbook, which contains extensive information about Art's past and his criminal activities.

Recently, this attracted Art's attention, which resulted in a (still ongoing) stream of threatening emails from him. Some of these are too funny, in their own peculiar way, not to share. So, without further ado:

The following are the emails I've received to date from Art Schwartz, with text formatting preserved. Sometimes funny, sometimes threatening, always rambling and incoherent, they offer a better insight into the mind of this spammer than anything I could hope to write myself.

All the header information on these emails is complete and unedited.

I know who you are. You are not going to get away with what you have been doing so easy this time if this continues. I would advice you to stop all illegal activities and harassment. Otherwise you will be in for a very big surprise very soon if you continue. I will begin a Libel lawsuit against you which I will win since what you are saying is not true and is Libel. When I win the Libel Lawsuit if you do not pay I will get a judgment which will stay on your credit report. This will ruin your credit rating. What goes around comes around!

Art Schwartz
Perfect Shareware

I have a good housewarming party planed for you! Back off! Don't think for a minute I will let you get away with what you are doing if you continue libeling me and your other actions. Do you want to see what I can do to your livelihood, reputation etc. once I contact them?! I don't think you will find it any more amusing than I did when you spread the lies about my company!

Art Schwartz

(Another email, identical to this one, arrived five minutes later in my mailbox; I don't know if this is because Art can't work his email client, or if he thought his threats would be twice as scary if he sent two copies.)

Stop your Libel & Harassment of me and my company now before it is to late.
You are on pretty thin ice. Your Child pornography will get you many years in jail. The nude pictures of underage girls you had on your Sites is enough alone to have you put away. Did you check out the models age fully and have a signed consent form from their parents? It is Cached on google so removing it now will not help. Your character and life style make you very vulnerable if this ever went to court or made public. But that is only the tip of the iceberg as they say. If I see any more attempts of you libeling my business or trying to hurt me or my business in any way I will make it my life's work to see you put in jail for all your illegal activities. I specialize in finding information so if I spend enough time I will find everything about you and all your illegal activities. Maybe you have a rich family who has been supporting your life style because I can't imagine anyone wanting to do business with you. But once they learn of what you have really been doing, I am sure you will be cut off. I never did anything to you that deserved you attacking me and my business like this. You are an Internet Stalker and bully who finally will learn what pay back is if you keep this up. I live very close to where you do. Take that anyway you like. Don't think any of your bogus information will throw me off. Your over confidence by getting away with all your illegal actives all these years will be your down fall and will not save you this time. I would like to end this right now so both of us can go back to our regular lives. How much money did you make doing this to my business? Don't you think you should put your time into earning a living than harassing me and my company? Anybody who speaks to you who is sane will tell you this. I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt. Did you stop taking any medication recently? If so please see your doctor. If you are smart you will drop this harassment of me and my business once and for all. If not expect the worse! Please confirm that you will stop all of this Libel & Harassment of me and my company now.

Art Schwartz

I am still seeing Libel & Harassment directed at my company. If it turns out to be you using a different name or IP or any of your friends I will do everything in my power to see you pay a heavy price including reporting your Child pornography. I would not mind testifying in court to it if you keep libeling my business with your lies. I have all I need for a Libel lawsuit right now by what is listed on Newsgroups from you. But if you stop spreading lies about my company and stop trying to hurt me and my company all of this will not be necessary. Do you really want to risk it all over the lies you are telling?

Art Schwartz

...
4 so-1-0.hsa3.tampa1.level3.net (209.0.96.1) 21.625 ms 12.33 ms 11.709 ms
5 so-4-1-0.mp1.tampa1.level3.net (4.68.113.85) 76.797 ms 38.321 ms 12.046 ms
6 as-2-0.bbr1.washington1.level3.net (64.159.1.2) 103.798 ms 48.824 ms 46.445 ms
7 ge-7-1.ipcolo1.washington1.level3.net (4.68.121.75) 74.732 ms 51.977 ms 44.217 ms
8 ge10-0.core1.dca2.hopone.net (66.36.224.190) 42.58 ms 44.064 ms 63.621 ms
9 vl3.msfc1.distb1.dca2.hopone.net (66.36.224.244) 44.292 ms 49.115 ms 42.961 ms
10 209.40.127.50 (209.40.127.50) 44.419 ms 47.725 ms 42.91 ms

I've had a couple of conversations with Art's Web host, Superb Internet, about the Perfect Shareware Web site. I've also escalated the complaints to Superb's upstream provider, Hopone. I'm hoping that either or both of these firms is more ethical than the old Cove Software Systems was. This may be a vain hope; at least some people believe that Hopone is willing to host anything up to and including child pornography, so they may be no better than the old Covesoft.

Next step is a conversation with local law enforcement in Hallandale, Art's home town, about whether or not his emails are actionable. This page will be updated as the situation changes.

UPDATE: Since writing this, Art has lost his Web hosting with Superb/Hopone. He's now hosted with Interserver.net. Interserver is owned by an outfit called Trouble Free Hosting, which seems to explicitly permit illegal activity; from their Terms of Service:

"Sites that promote any illegal activity, such as Warez sites, are prohibited on non-adult servers."

Apparently, sites that promote illegal software are welcome elsewhere...