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January 31, 2006
Author of MySpace bot denies wrongdoing
I caught up with Anthony Lineberry, the author of MyFriendBot. Here's the deal.
Lineberry says he responded to the legal threats from MySpace by asking how his program breaks the law or the Myspace user agreement. But, so far, they haven't replied, he reports.
He denies that he is "hacking" the Myspace site or exploiting any vulnerabilities. "All [MyFriendBot] does is the exact same things that you can do with a browser, but automated ... everything is just done by emulating the POST and GET requests of the browser," says Lineberry.
Most of his sales are to bands hoping to promote their music on MySpace. (He can get some idea about his customers by the email addresses they use to buy his software via PayPal.) But he admits to making sales to clothing retailers and others who might be considered spammers. But "nothing like pill pushers or Viagra stuff," he says.
"It sucks, though. I didn't actually write that software with spamming in mind," he says.
Lineberry is an active Myspace user himself, and reports that he doesn't receive any spam via the service.
Brisk sales of the software are helping pay Lineberry's bills at college, where he's studying computer science. He said purchases have all resulted from word of mouth, and he wasn't too thrilled at the extra publicity from being on the Spam Kings blog.
"I don't really think of myself as a bad guy in the matter. People hear any association with spam, and bam, you are a bad guy," he says.
Posted by brian at January 31, 2006 7:57 PM
Comments
AHHA this is a total scam. His software does not even work. He created multiple websites with the same basic princple but its okay hes being sued in the upcoming weeks. He is selling products that dont even exist. And the bot does not even fully work
Posted by: Arthur at February 14, 2006 6:54 PM
Who ever you are that says it doesnt work...update the software. you have to realize, myspace changes things on their site constantly, and this constantly causes the bot to fail because it cant parse something correctly on a page.
Posted by: at February 17, 2006 3:53 AM
This software does not work. It doesnt for me anyway. I dont know if it functions actually because I cannot get a registration key. He has my money and I have the software but I cant get it to start because I was never supplied with the registration key - code. Seems like a scam to me since I have send several emails and tickets and no responses what so ever. I wish he was man enouph to at least send me a working copy or refund my money.
Posted by: Brian at March 8, 2006 2:55 PM
BTW IThe one it gave me is MyFriendAdder 1.0 Can you get me the newest release with a registration and everything to USE the thing? Save your title as a scam artist and supply it.
Posted by: Brian at March 8, 2006 2:57 PM
lets hear it for the next generation of inet marketing!
Posted by: jo at March 8, 2006 8:34 PM
Okay, this guys should be shot. I dont have much money and I spend almost 20 bux on this sorry peice of crap software. This moron doesnt even supply the registration. I guess I am to assume that the thing doesnt work. I will be sure to plateer all over the place that this guy is a scam. He wont supply the registration code or refund my money or reply to any help issues and leaves his "help tickets" open and ignored. The developer is a loser, a thief and a liar!
Posted by: Brian at March 9, 2006 4:00 PM
come look at our product
it actually works and we provide great support to our customers.
Posted by: paragonmyspace.com at March 9, 2006 4:04 PM
Sorry, that guy ruined the myspace thing for me to try any more of these things. Maybe if you have a free trial so I can see that it works and whatnot. I dont want to give away any more money for nothing.
Posted by: Brian at March 10, 2006 8:47 AM
dsfsfsdf
Posted by: at March 22, 2006 4:43 AM
you guys are all aware that cease and desist letter is completely fake right? anyone can get a proxy these days and send an email from legal@myspace.com with some bullshit message.
Posted by: uhhh at March 25, 2006 3:39 AM
I get so much spam on Myspace, it's not even worth it anymore. Mostly automated robots pretending to be hot girls with webcams.
Posted by: John at March 28, 2006 3:56 AM
yeah, the programs are shoddy, dont work as advertised, doesnt reply to emails or send activation keys. its either a shoddy scam or and even worse run business...
Posted by: mike at March 30, 2006 10:24 PM
been using friendbot,messenger and friend adder demos,,they work just fine,,but while i was looking for it i stumbled across an adder that wasnt a software,it was a webpage,i was stupid,entered my details,and nothing happened,or so i thought,in 3 days someonesomeone hacked my account to send something like12 pages of bulletins relating to cam girls and porno clips,the cheeck of it,,f this happens to you,just change your email and password of your myspace account....
peace
Posted by: dave at May 4, 2006 8:54 AM
