Gotcha! DNS Popup Scammer Fined $1.9 Million

Mister B writes: "A scam artist who trapped surfers mistyping their URLs (including those for children's websites) and barraged them with popup ads for pr0n and gambling has been busted to the tune of about $2 million. Apparently the FTC got ticked after having to close 64 separate browser windows! The FTC has a sense of humour nevertheless: the case name is 'Cupcake Party' (the scammer did business under 'Cupcake') :-) . More details at MSNBC and the FTC."

Comments

I hope they make Gates pay half of it.

[Henry V .009]

Not only is this the fault of people using internet browsers to exploit a known design flaw, it is also the fault of browser providers for doing nothing to correct that design flaw. I hope the FTC fines Microsoft next.

How can internet stuff be a crime?

[fluor2]

How can internet stuff be a crime? Comon! Its just a lame-ass program trapping lame-ass mis-spelling lame-asses. One million? Two millions? By hitting my neighbor in the head I would be fined much less than this. I just laugh of the USA and its stupid political laws. LOL!

Re:How is this illegal?

[epsalon]

About destroying innocense- The world is not an innocent place. You must accept that. Children will run into pornography sooner or later, unless the parent does not allow any interaction with the outside world. One of the best ways to get a child interested in something is make it taboo. For example, why do children swear? Children swear because that makes their parents and other adults react in a certain way attracting their attention, thus inducing more swearing in the future.

It's better thae children be given the tools to correctly treat pornography and other smut on the net, than to let them be exposed (which they surely will be) and have a much stronger influence, as the facts are not given and the whole subject considered taboo.

The solution cannot be by legal means. The DNS artist can easily register cartoonnetwork.tv outside the US, where these laws do not apply and put the porn ads there. And what about goatse.cx? I don't see anyone suing them!
Don't want your kids to see pornography? Lock them in their room and don't give them internet access. However, they will see porn from friends sooner or later, so good luck.