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).

Comments

Hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

A *very* interesting precendent here might get set here.

This might *not* have been read by a slashdot editor might *not* have read this.

Re:Uhm

[mythosaz]

Forged canadian emails are only worth 5/8ths of a day in a US prison.

Re:A very (ludicrous, retarded, draconian) precede

[dr_dank]

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.

China struggles to keep up

[TheNarrator]

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.

Re:Uhm

[gooberguy]

Uh, unless something happened recently that I'm not aware of, the United States has yet to annex our neighbors to the north.

54'40" or fight!

Re:Punishment fitting the crime?

[JaredOfEuropa]

Maximum penalties: 471 years in federal prison, $117 million in fines."

Hmm, these days some inmates have web and email access... just wait until Bubba hears what crime he is in for *cackles*

A fair punishment for Spammers

[yorgasor]

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.