Slashdot Mirror
Disgruntled Fan Arrested, Indicted For Spam Attacks
An anonymous reader submits: "A *very* interesting precedent here might get set here. A California man has been arrested by the FBI for sending spam spoofing the From: email address of several Philadelphia-area newspaper editors and writers. The charges relate to the damage caused by having the bounces sent back to the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, with a total of more than 160,000 bounced emails. Maximum penalties: 471 years in federal prison, $117 million in fines." And not just arrested, either -- Reader red_dragon points to the indictment (PDF linked from this U.S. Attorney's Office release).
A *very* interesting precendent here might get set here.
This might *not* have been read by a slashdot editor might *not* have read this.
For forged bounced emails, the fine is 1 day in prison and/or $734. Per email.
:)
I got 500 bounced emails from a university in Canada once, should I sue them using this as a precedent?
I could *really* use $365,000. I'd even accept it in Canadian dollars (in fact, that would be easier, given that I am Canadian).
Maybe he should kill off the FBI that have evidence / charging him. Least he'd get a lower maximum sentence.
I've left to find myself. If you happen to see me, please, keep me there until I return.
I could have expected this from a Flyers fan, but a Phillies fan?
What's this world coming to?
Someone you trust is one of us.
Prison is for people dangerous to society. Murderers, rapists, other assorted thugs. Society isn't helped because a spammer is in jail
Research shows that many inmates tend to become even more hardened criminals once they are sent to prison.
When he gets out in 2471, society better watch out.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
News Flash: China, in a desperate attempt to keep up with the United States has introduced a wave of new registration including the death penalty for spamming. A seperate bill, also introduced, proposes 30 years hard labor for trolling Slashdot.
Spammers and other net vermin (cowards all) cause a small to moderate amount of harm to millions of people. They are getting away with it because they are not held accountable.
If the harm product of Spammers and other shitheads (defined as harm * number of victims) were held constant, and the number of victims reduced, to say 10 thousand people, then spammers would be hanging from electric poles in every neighborhood.
If a person hurts one other person, then they deserve punishment. When spammers and joe jobbers hurt millions of people, that punishment should be multiplied..
I personally favor eating spammers brains while they are still alive ( a lot like raw oysters, actually, with a wedge of lemon or a splash of tabasco) but then again I am a moderate softie, and my friends and coworkers make fun of me for being such a wuss.
EEEEeeeeeeew. I'm hoping that was intended to be the pun it turned out to be.
The rest was for being a die-hard Phillies fan. Come on.
How dare you read the articles and the links in the articles to the background material and post a reasonable response to those who obviously haven't even read the flipping article. This is slashdot. Home of the knee-jerk reaction based on headlines and some weenie's self-serving synopsis of an article. I bet you even read up on the issues before voting.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
Ben
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Give him some webmail account that he can access over dialup from prison. Publish that email far and
wide so it'll end up on every spam list in the world.
Then, tell him that once a year he'll get an email with a password that if he gives the prison guard, he can leave at any time.
This email can come in any form, with any subject heading, very likely disguised as spam. His webmail account will also have a 5Mb limit, and if the email bounces because it just happens to come when the mailbox is full, he'll have to wait for the next year.
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The poor suffering bastard has been punished enough.
Upon first conviction: A week in Philadelphia
Upon second conviction: Two weeks in Philadelphia
Under the "three strikes" law: A lifetime in Philadelphia.
OK, funny either way, but was that r a typo or were you poking fun at some folks probrems pronouncing certain letters?
I just hope China doesn't have a presidential election soon.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
160,000 bounced mails... less than 60 megabytes of traffic, about as much as three people running windows update or five people downloading Mozilla. Laughable. If they put people like him in the same league with Bin Laden then they should be taken outside and have their bare asses whipped with a rubber hose until they have stopped screaming and started giggling.
Why did the article authors mention the guy being a possible white supremacist? They say that in the first paragraph, as if it were something important, and then don't bother going on to connect that to the events described in the article.
Pure and simple, they did this to make him seem more human and likeable. Everyone knows that racists are intellectually impaired, this lets everyone know that he is stupid, and therefore maybe did not realize the depths of the evil that is spamming.
I mean come on now... the guy is a SPAMMER. It really doesn't get much worse than that.