I, Spammer

PCOL writes "The Washington Post is reporting on testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation by Ronald Scelson, an eighth-grade dropout and self-taught computer programmer from Louisiana, who claims that he sends between 120 million and 180 million e-mails every 12 hours, that he can break sophisticated software filters 24 hours after they are deployed, and that he has no choice but to resort to forging the sender information in his bulk e-mail so he can be anonymous and maintain his connection to the Internet. He added that he obtained all his addresses legally and that AOL gladly sold him the company's entire customer directory which Ted Leonsis, vice chairman of AOL, did not deny." It's a tough life. Here's another story about the Senate committee meeting.

Comments

Uhhh..

[gurnb]

"Mr. Leonsis, are you a spammer?" McCain asked.

Leonsis, who had testified minutes earlier about how AOL was blocking 2.4 billion pieces of spam per day, did not answer directly.

"We let members opt out" of commercial messages sent by the company and affiliates, he said. And he accused Scelson of violating the company's "terms of use" agreement by using AOL's membership directory as a source for e-mail addresses. Scelson readily agreed.

Hello Pot, this is the kettle, you're black!!

AOL is a bigger part of the problem vs being a bigger part of the solution.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

Re:Uhhh..

[The_K4]

Actually, have you ever tried to write RETURN TO SENDER on a AOL-mailed CD?
The post office won't return it.

Ever taken a bunch of them down to the post office and sent to back certified mail (and request delivery confirmation>?
AOL sends you a Cease and Desist letter.

I'm serious, some friends and I did this in college because we were bored.

Re:Uhhh..

[Dr Caleb]

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck

It might have Mad Cow Disease.

Re:Uhhh..

[cioxx]

That's what USPS Form 1500, Application for Listing & Prohibitory Order (pdf), is for.

Maybe not. The application states:

"The attached mailpiece, from the mailer identified below, offers for sale matter that I believe to be erotically arousing or sexually provocative and therefore is a pandering advertisement. Under the provisions of 39 USC 3008, I request that a Prohibitory Order be issued against the mailer and the mailer's agents or assigns."

Unless you use the AOL CD as an artificial vagina, you won't get far with that application.

Pretty simple

[Paddyish]

while ($AOL)
{ $AOL=shoot_self_in_foot(with_gun);}

Where's the personal info, it's been 20 minutes.

[Ravensign]

Lol.

This article is 20 minutes old, I am suprised his home address, phone number, ssn, shoe size and EQ account info aren't already posted.

Hell Freezes Over

[Tackhead]

> "I'm probably the most hated person in this room," said an unapologetic Scelson,

and several dimensions away, Satan scraped the icicles from his beard and once more begged God to turn the heat back up. "Okay, so a spammer told the truth, but it only happened once, and it was an accident, it's not my fault, can I please have some frickin' heat down here already?!?!"

Re:FYI incaseof /. fx

[Turing Machine]

"I'm probably the most hated person in this room," said an unapologetic Scelson

An impressive claim, considering that he was testifying before Congress.

Re:Another bad Slashdot analogy

[Exedore]

People need to guard their email addresses in the same way they practice safe sex. Don't go sticking your email address just any old place ...

Special offer for JSkillsWui$d3g6Yert! Email address too small/not performing to expectations? Now you can enlarge your email address the natural way! 100% safe and effective! Get the email address performance you've always dreamed of having!

Re:FYI incaseof /. fx

[DogIsMyCoprocessor]

Ooops, should have said copy and paste, since it looks like the WaPo article is still there.

8th Grade Dropout?

[hendridm]

It shows

And all this time I thought the bad english in the spam I get originated from Asia.