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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."

5 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmmm...Blackmail... by thewiz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, that's the ticket! Blackmail a company into making what I'm doing legit! Since I know they won't do the legal way I'll force them into it using blackmail!

    What logic! What stupidity! What a maroon!

    --
    If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
  2. Extortion is the biggie, not spimming by winkydink · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm betting the CAN-SPAM violation was thrown in for good measure. From another article on this: Anthony Greco, 18, of Cheektowaga, N.Y., was charged with violating the CAN-SPAM Act, threatening to cause damage to computers with the intent to extort and causing damage to a protected computer. If convicted of all three offenses, Greco faces a maximum possible penalty of 18 years in federal prison.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  3. I hope he serves a long time... by rokzy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...and get's the shit kicked out of him regularly.

    there is no excuse for this at all.

    this is intentionally degrading other people's lives for you own greed. it is the (or my) definition of evil.

  4. Re:Freedom of Speech by Steve+B · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I hate getting spam/spim as much as the next guy, but at some point, aren't we letting our zealotry against spam erode the First Amendment?

    I picture you writing, a la the old Bart Simpson blackboard gag, "IT'S A PROPERTY RIGHTS ISSUE, NOT A FREE SPEECH ISSUE."

    --
    /. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
  5. Re:Freedom of Speech by rokzy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    pick a reason:
    1. this isn't "speech", it's blackmail
    2. this isn't "speech", it's advertising
    3. it's not about forcing him to stop, it's about not letting him force us to listen
    4. free speech doesn't cover costs e.g. you can't steal other people's paper to print your opinions on

    I think *YOU* are eroding the First Amendment by making it sound like anything you say is "speech" and should be covered, which is blatantly false and could lead some people to think the whole thing should be thrown out.