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First Arrest Made in U.S. For Spimming

Posted by Zonk on from the it's-like-spam-but-edible dept.

prostoalex writes "U.S. federal authorities have conducted the first arrest for spimming. Eighteen-year-old Anthony Greco was arrested for sending spam to instant messenger users of MySpace.com." From the article: "Greco had allegedly threatened to share his methods for spamming members of the group if MySpace.com didn't sign an exclusive marketing deal that would have legitimized the messages he was sending via the service."

3 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. He wasn't arrested for Spimming... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Informative

    He was arrested for extortion.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Luckily.... by GillBates0 · · Score: 3, Informative
    most IM clients let you restrict incoming IMs only to those originating from people in your Friends list. And most people (in my experience) aren't interested in receiving IMs from anybody outside the list (atleast those of us who use IM mainly as an alternative to phone calls to friends/relatives).

    IMHO until somebody figures out a way to spoof IM headers to make them look as if they're coming from somebody else, spimming is going to be far less of an annoyance than email spam.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  3. Re:Freedom of Speech by SquadBoy · · Score: 4, Informative

    The correct comparison is not to Larry Flynt and this is why teh First Amendement argument doesn't really hold water.

    The difference is really simple. Larry and the spammers/spimmers should both have the right to publish whatever they want to. But Larry has no way to, *force* me to view what he publishes. I have to get out of my chair, go to the store and exchange money to get it. OTOH spammers/spimmers both shove it down my throat. Thanks to fine tools like SapmAssassin and a very aggresive .procmailrc I manage to avoid most spam sent my way. I'm guessing it's slightly harder on a phone and of course most people don't know how to use those tools. The correct comparison is a salesdroid knocking on your door and if you don't answer trying to yell his "message" through the closed door. And that is not and should not be protected.

    In short the problem is not that the spimmers are saying the things they are saying. It is that they are forcing you to listen. Which is a bad thing.

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    Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.