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New York Spam Ring Lawsuits
Iphtashu Fitz writes "Microsoft and the Attorney General of New York have announced multiple lawsuits against what they term as a spam ring operating throughout New York and responsible for sending billions of illegal junk e-mail. According to articles at ABCNews.com, CNet News.com and elsewhere the state of New York has filed 6 lawsuits against alleged notoriuous spammer Scotty Richter and accomplices. Richter is well known among the anti-spam community, holding the dubious distinction of being ranked number 3 on the Spamhaus Registry of Known Spam Offenders. Microsoft has seperately filed 5 other lawsuits."
Are they just trying to get their case backlog totally out of the way before the CANSPAM act goes into effect, or what?
Lawsuits.
Goodbye!
-Certified TechnoWeinie
Please forward all spam to info@optinbig.com
Spammers send the spam.. Someone else takes the orders and the money from people who reply to the spam. Is anyone going after them?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
unleash the full misguided fury of the Bush administration unto them!
ok, well, maybe the death penalty is a tad too harsh, but i think a good old fashioned tarring and feathering is called for.
Between this, the world going dark and those smart helicopters, this has turned out to be a very, very frightening day. I'm definitely switching to the 2-ply tinfoil for my hat.
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain
Politicians and moral crusaders learn nothing from history. Prohibition does not work.
The War on Spam will be what drives spammers for once and for all into the arms of organized international crime.
Not a good idea.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Because after years of inaction against blatant fraud and trillions of spams, we're finally seeing Attorneys General from several States actually nailing some of these pigfuckers to the wall before the Statewide antispam laws all get overturned by the DMA's spam legalization initiative two weeks from now.
(My apologies to any of you who actually do fuck pigs for insulting you with a comparison to to Snotty Richter.)
...that way I can just block them at the firewall.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
...that way I can just block them at the firewall.
Oh MY GOD! You just solved the problem of SPAM!!!! Next stop Disneyland!
of course not :)
suing spammers, though, is probably the best course of action open to ms, though. they have has some notorious security flaws that have allowed spammers to set up open relays on ms boxes. their popular email reader has in the past also had some dramatic bugs that have contributed to virus transmission traffic (in the public eye, all nuisance email can get lumped together whether it's "i love you" or "buy viagra").
for ms to make a serious contribution to fighting spam they would either a) have to plug current and potential holes that help propogate "bad" email (malmail?) b) do something else.
while there is the new "security committment" thang going on in redmond and it is probably a good start, doing something in the "something else" category (ie suing spammers) is a lot faster and easier.
2 1337 4 u!
not saying at all that this is not a good initiative in absolute terms.
But I guess that, if ever it improves to reduce the overall amount of mail, Microsoft will use it as another hoax for testifying the usefulness of their brand-new security-policy.
Regards,
jdif
Let's overcome our weakness.
I just hope that they're really going for scorched earth here. It's too bad that the "YOU CAN SPAM" act doesn't have any provisions for Mitnick-style sentencing ("no computer use for X years") because I'm not entirely sure that monetary damages are going to cut it when you're dealing with assmasters like Richter.
Heck, the first time I saw their site I was amazed at how long and how much work they must have put into it. Now its can all be readily be used as evidence against the spamhauses!
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Probably not, but that's no reason not to be pleased that they are going after a big time spammer. As a large email provider, Microsoft has to spend a lot of money on storage, processing and bandwidth for spam. It also has to deal with all the customer complaints that spam generates. So it is certainly in Microsoft's corporate interest to reduce the flow of spam. That also happens to be in everyone else's interest as well, so Microsoft does deserve some appreciation in this case.
One Spam ring to rule them all...
Naw... We Just hate 'em a little less this week
wanted: one clever sig,apply within
That's only true of products/services where customers are willing to pay a large enough premium to mitigate the risk of criminal penalty for the supplier. Eg, alcohol, drugs, prostitution have a market who will pay a lot - enough that the supplier feels it's worth the risk.
Once the cost/risk of criminal penalty accrues to spam suppliers, will there be many customers who will pay the consequent much higher rates for spam? I doubt it. Spam has been highly profitable up until now because the costs to those who provide it are very low. That won't be true any more.
Some interesting quotes from their website:
"TRUST: In most industries, especially in the Opt-in E-mail business, trust is the most vital, but surprisingly overlooked aspect of business. OptInBig and its employees not only understand this concept, but embrace and practice it on a daily basis."
"FYI: There are approximately 100 million unique e-mail addresses in North America-OptinBig has access to nearly half."
"OptInBig: Possesses over 45 million online consumers in its database;
Has lists available with a reach from 500,000 to up to 16 million online consumers;
Produces over 20 million page views per month on our clients' websites; and,
Delivers an average of 350,000 individual website orders per month.
For a free consultation and to learn which list is best for your current or future business needs, please call (303) 464-8164 to set up an appointment.
And most interesting: From their Acceptable Use Policy:
. SYSTEM AND NETWORK SECURITY AND INTEGRITY
Falsification of Origin. Forging of any TCP-IP packet header, e-mail header or any part of a message header. This prohibition does not include the use of aliases or anonymous remailers.
4. E-MAIL You may not distribute, publish, or send any of the following types of e-mail:
Unsolicited promotions, advertising or solicitations (commonly referred to as "spam"), including, without limitation, commercial advertising and informational announcements, except to those who have explicitly requested such e-mails.
Commercial promotions, advertising, solicitations, or informational announcements that contain false or misleading information in any form.
Harassing e-mail, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages.
E-mails containing forged or falsified information in the header (including sender name and routing information), or any other forged or falsified information.
In addition, you may not use Optin's mail server or another Web site's mail server to relay mail without the express permission of the account holder or the Web site. Posting the same or similar message to one or more newsgroups (excessive cross-posting or multiple-posting) also is explicitly prohibited.
INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF THE AUP, AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON YOUR BEHALF, WILL BE CONSIDERED VIOLATIONS OF THE AUP BY YOU.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
With trojaned machines doing most of the spamming, about the only effective block is to pull the wire connecting you to the net.
You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
-- Colonel Adolphus Busch
These guys are breaking the law and their whereabouts are known.
Why don't we either throw them in jail or form a nice lynch mob and feed them to the aligators?
After all, who's gonna care?
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
> What is this 'notoriuous'?
Since there are several of them, it should have been 'notoriuoii'.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
* Daily mega-doses of penis enlargement pills, until their equipment is so capacious that they can't wear pants and lose conciousness from blood running out of their brains every time they get a woody.
* One-Way Ticket to Nigeria, to meet Rev. Motobu, grand-daughter of the former president, after convincing Motobu that the spammer is the son of a millionaire who loves him deeply.
* Starring role in a series of adult films set at a petting zoo. A porcupine and alligator petting zoo.
Stefan
If we all to 30 minutes per day to fight spam, I think we would be far better off.
I don't know if there are communities of SPAMN fighters but it is obvious that if a small percentage of the population did this, the spam cost effectiveness would disappear.
Some companies out there are frightful with their attitude. For instance, yesterday I got a mortgage offer which forwarded me to a web site which I entered mostly truthful information except the name was different. The offer came with an "exclusive" security system. Double whammy ...
I was called back within minutes by a company in Austin TX and when I asked them about their SPAM policy I got a really rude response. I suspect if they get a few more of these phone calls they'll stop doing this. I also found that a large US bank has web pages that refer to this company. Calling the bank and getting a cogent response about spam was engligtening. No one there can help. I suspect a few phone calls from customers could also help this situation.
Unfortunately, the spammers are pretty astute at making life hell on-line so I think this is only going to work through large numbers of small community groups.
So a question for the slashdot community. Are there any of you interested in organizing ?
A lot of open relays are running *nix. How will fixing problems in MS Exchange solve this?
What?
No wait... Yay Microsoft!!!!
I'm very confused...
Utah does (along with Idaho and Oklahoma). In Utah and Idaho (not sure about Oklahoma), it's an old Mormon thing about the need for blood atonement. Although, it's one of those things that most Mormons don't know/care about.
Like how it wasn't until the 1970s that black people could become God on their own planet when they die. Yes, when die a Mormon and you lived a good life, you become God of your own world. Although, I think that still applies only to men.
If someone reading this is Mormon and you get mad, don't get your special marriage panties in an uproar -- all religions are nutty. LDS is just more recent so it's pretty easier to pick apart.
For my next shot, I'll pick on Catholics for believing they actually eat the body of Christ and drink the blood of Christ. It's not just wine & bread once it's been consecrated. Most Catholics don't think about that, but ask a priest about it.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
I'll back up my (admittedly somewhat bizarre) assertion that fighting spam with legal means is going to be counter-productive.
First, I agree of course that no-one wants spam in the same way as people want drugs.
But. The war on drugs fails not only because people want drugs. Few people want international trafficking in women, nor trade in arms, nor trade in near-extinct animals... Yet none of these prohibited businesses do badly at all. In fact, they do very well.
The principle questions I've asked myself are (a) is it possible to stop spam through law enforcement, and (b) if not, what will the consequence be?
The answer to (a) is clearly "no" for several reasons. Spammers have developed techniques that allow them to work almost untraceably. Forget open relays, that is very 20th Century. Today's spammers use pirated PCs, of which there are probably millions in undetected active use.
The answer to (b) is somewhat more worrying. When spammers operate semi-legitimately, however evil and bestial they may be, they will take some concern to avoid breaking other laws. You will not find snuff videos advertised in spam, nor illegal drugs, nor prostitutes,... Penis extenders and Viagra are annoying, but legal AFAIK.
When spammers are already breaking laws that can land them in jail, why will they stop with a few more felonies. Has the pirated PC be detected and shut down? OK, destroy all data on it, to avoid detection. Sorry, Joe Shmoe. Is there someone blocking your spams through black lists and other means? Perhaps a few bombs in the mail, or even a knock on the door some foggy morning.
The solution to spam lies not in new laws and new criminal offenses. It lies in the protocols and gateways that allow malware to propagate. It lies in that abominable monoculture that leaves tens of millions of people vulnerable. It lies in the definition of new email protocols that are cynical enough for the 21st century.
I believe time will show the legal approach to be woefully misplaced. Jail all the American spammers and watch the problem just keep on getting worse.
Gentlemen, I respectfully rest my case and will now return to my work.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Microsoft isn't suing them as Microsoft, provider of operating systems and applications. They are suing because of the effect of spam on MSN (which is specifically mentioned in the cnet article) and Hotmail. Both recieve huge amounts of spam to user accounts, and cost MS a ton of money to fight, and tick off their users.
Is MS doing this because they are warm fuzzy people who want to save the world from spam? No. They are doing it because spam costs them a ton of money as a company, cutting into their profits, and they want to stop that. Sometimes, what is good for a company is also good for the people who purchase it's products (and in this case even for people who don't)
I have blog like everyone else
Well, they're certainly not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. We'll just get the positive side effect of them protecting their own self-interests. Spam accounts for about 80% of all email traffic and Microsoft has both Hotmail and MSN hosting email. It's in their own best interests to nail these jack asses since handling and storing spam emails costs them real $$$.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
Open relays are becoming less important to spammers all of the time. Now I love a good MS bash same as any good Slashdotter but we really can't blame this on them. More and more spam is coming from trojaned machines both 'nix and Windows. You would do better to save your barbs for non-diligent sysadmins.
Seriously. Between spammers and stock market flim-flammers, Spitzer is the only politician I see that is punishing real criminals.
It's simple: I demand prosecution for torture.
Following the lead of the US Army in Iraq, Slashdot has announced that a deck of cards with the pictures of various spammers and other malcontents villified by Slashdotters has been produced.
Being #3, Scotty Richter's face has been put on the Queen of Spades.
It has been suggested that Darl McBride's likeness be used for the deck's joker.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Do we really want corporations going around charging people of committing illegal acts?
They aren't charging anyone with anything. They are suing them. They don't have to prove that they did anything illegal, just that they did something that caused damages to them.
As far as the RIAA lawsuits vs. these, there is a huge difference. People dislike the RIAA suits because they are claiming huge amounts of damages that are inacurate, and because they are done under a law that eliminates many of the legal protections of most lawsuits. Most people see spam as having huge costs to individuals and businesses, so there is a difference.
As far as not basing a society on litigation, litigation, not laws, was the common way of resolving many issues until recently. I prefer litigation to laws, because when companies do things wrong, they can answer to the government, but it's harder to get the government to answer to anything.
I have blog like everyone else
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,60747,00.ht ml ...his group controls 450,000 "Trojaned" systems, most of them home computers running Windows with high-speed connections. The hacked systems contain special software developed by the Polish group that routes traffic between Internet users and customers' websites through thousands of the hijacked computers. The numerous intermediary systems confound tools such as traceroute, effectively laundering the true location of the website. To utilize the service, customers simply configure their sites to use any of several domain-name system servers controlled by the Polish group, Tubul said.
450,000 of hijacked windows boxes are being used as spam relays and webservers and this only by one group...
MS is like the guy who left his carkeys on the bar while taking a leak and now suing whomever stole their car. While exploiting the weakness may be illegal it's also the stupidity of microsoft (not writing secure software even though win95 already necessitated it) that causes the thieves to have such an easy time.
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
Remember, the point of anti-spam measures is not to stop all spam completely. The point is to make spam as expensive as other means of marketing such as direct-mail, telemarketing, and fax blasting. Lawsuits can go a long way towards this.
That's a bit like blaming the rape victim for being assaulted. Let us remember that first and foremost, the spammer is at fault here. For what it's worth, you SHOULD be able to put a totally insecure machine on the Internet and not worry about someone abusing it just like a woman SHOULD be able to walk down the street without worrying about being assaulted. The problem is that there are too many immoral assholes fscking it up for the good people in this world so we need to make sure our doors are locked at night, our women carry concealed weapons, and our computers are set to auto-update.
If the spammers are using Microsoft software to send the spams then are not Microsoft contributing to the problm and be in the dock with the spammers?
I'm in the middle of a community college library, trying hard not to laugh out loud at the news that Snotty Richter is going to get a taste of the legal hammers of NY State and MSFT combined. Remember, the current AG in NY, Eliot Spitzer, is the same fellow who sued spam factory Monsterhut in 2002. Monsterhut had sued PaeTec, their ISP, after service was withdrawn for AUP violations for their mass emailing. Monsterhut prevailed in front of the first judge in that case, however an appeals court ruling overturned that verdict. The whole legal mess pretty much left the principles behind Monsterhut, Todd Pelow and Gary Hartl, financially ruined (yay!) so that they easily closed their doors and ran. I've not heard an update on the story but if you can ping me on NANAE (Rev Egg Plant), I'd love to hear.
You set up your own caching NS to never issue forwards to another NS. (but forwards go from 53 to 53).
Of course, the spammers will react to this by using non-standard ports, and probably by turning zombied machines into their DNS-poisoning faux servers. But that's no reason not to do it.
Of course, a certain large OS software vendor's inability/unwillingness to address security except as a PR problem for whitewashing, is why there are skillions of zombied boxes out there, and an important part of why spam is burgeoning. Still, they're doing better than the nineties when their 'security chief' was some bozo with a PR background.
State laws against spam usually make bogus attempts to claim that the spammer somehow is under that state's jurisdiction, and usually make bogus attempts to claim that the spammer should have known that the annoyed recipient is located in the state, but they're basically stretching most of the time. The main exception is for products that are sold by actual multi-state companies, e.g. if some Detroit car company marketing-critter were spamming about why you should by their product, they'd reasonably be under recipient-state jurisdiction because they've got dealers in the recipients' state, even if the message got emailed from Detroit or Korea.
It's way too easy for spammers, even under the new US Federal You-Can-Spam law, to generate cut-outs at the expense of a couple of disposable corporations. The corporations do contracts with each other absolutely guaranteeing not to ever ever spam, at the cost of not getting paid their commission, optionally with one of the corporations outside the US, and the worst penalty that happens is that if the direct spammer gets caught, John Ashcroft gets to burn their corporate charter papers at the stake but the real beneficiary has a nice paper trail indicating that they're perfectly innocent and they're shocked to find spamming going on in this establishment. And then they got spend another $50 for another disposable corporation and give them a contract requiring them to never ever spam again like their evil twin Zut did or they'll be spanked also.
A typical cutout situation is that New Jersey-based FakeViagra Inc sells a dozen cases of product to Bahamas FakeViagraByMail, Mon, Ltd, which isn't a dealer, it's just a supplier to health food stores. You can bust them, but not very effectively, and they can disappear if they want.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks