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Fired AOL Engineer gets 15 Months

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the forward-to-the-big-house dept.

n3hat writes "A former America Online software engineer was sentenced to 15 months in prison for stealing 92 million screen names and e-mail addresses and selling them to spammers who sent out up to 7 billion unsolicited e-mail messages, according to this A.P. story in the Baltimore Sun."

15 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. Lucky guy by igny · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He has got just 1 second of jail per 175 emails.

    --
    In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
  2. Hypothetical Prison Conversation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    The setting: Prison cafeteria.

    Prisoner #1: So what're you in for?
    Prisoner #2: Aggravated assault. You?
    Prisoner #1: Armed robbery. How 'bout you?
    AOL Engineer: I stole 92 million screen names and e-mail addresses and sold them to spammers who sent out up to 7 billion unsolicited e-mail messages.
    Prisoners #1 and 2 inch away from AOL Engineer at the lunch table

    1. Re:Hypothetical Prison Conversation by mhearne · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If I had to go to jail for a cybercrime, I would at least want the other inmates to understand the charge.

      15 months really isn't that bad, he'll probably do a third of that with good time (5 months). But he'll have to be on probation for years, and nobody worth working for is going to want to let him do anything more than stuff resistors in circuit boards.

      The trouble that comes after prison is often worse than doing the time itself.

      Michael

  3. So... by Lally+Singh · · Score: 5, Funny

    How many years are AOL's management getting for... well, managing AOL.

    --
    Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
  4. Why jail? by Eightyford · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've never understood why non-violent criminals are even put into jail. Instead of us taxpayers paying about 25 grand a year for this guy(a number I pulled directly out of my ass, by the way); he should be forced to repay the damage that he has done. And, if it takes the rest of his life, then so be it; just don't let the guy declare bankruptcy (another thing I've never really understood).

    Anyways, save jail for the murderers, rapists, and child molesters of the world. Make people like this guy, Martha Stewart, and Bernie Ebbers repay they're debt in other more productive ways.

    --
    Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
    1. Re:Why jail? by value_added · · Score: 5, Interesting

      just don't let the guy declare bankruptcy (another thing I've never really understood)

      Such debts can't be discharged in bankruptcy court.

    2. Re:Why jail? by dal20402 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I agree with you that, in general, too many people are in jail.

      But in cases of very costly (to the rest of us) and profitable (to the perp) white-collar crime, there is very little else that can serve as a deterrent. White-collar criminals tend to have a different attitude from low-level drug offenders: they aren't desperate or sick, and don't even recognize that what they're doing is wrong. Instead, they feel no guilt about gaming the system in any way possible (speaking in generalities, of course).

      If you fine them, they'll hide their money (as another poster said). If you try to leverage their knowledge, they'll fail to cooperate. As long as you let them have their freedom, they'll find a way to beat you. The way to make them think twice is to take away their freedom.

      If we put one white-collar perp in jail for every five low-level drug offenders we let out and put into intensive treatment programs, we'd make the market a more honest place and solve a lot of social problems at the same time.

  5. Lemme get this straight by DSP_Geek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Kevin Mitnick prowls around some machines, steals nothing, damages nothing, yet spends four years in jail waiting for his trial, gets a five year sentence, and has to stay away from computers for another few years, while this fucknuts steals a subscriber list for spammers and gets a slap on the wrist? Doesn't even have to stay away from other people's mail servers? Riiight.

  6. What's his cellmate's name and address? by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 5, Funny
    I think we all should send his cellmate bottles of penis enlargment pills, viagra, cialis, cialis soft tabs, Jackrabbit vibrators, and everything else we get from spam.

    All in the name of poetic justice.

    --
    Fight Spammers!
    1. Re:What's his cellmate's name and address? by Eightyford · · Score: 5, Funny

      There's no way in hell that I'm sending him the money I'm getting from my new Nigerian friend!

      It should be here any day now...

      --
      Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
  7. Re:The truth of the matter is... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 5, Informative
    I mean seriously, you expect me to believe that AOL has 92 million paying customers?

    Not if you'd RTFA, and noticed where it said "The stolen list of 92 million AOL addresses included multiple addresses used by each of AOL's estimated 30 million customers."

  8. Re:Ahh.... by Mahtar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, hilarious. He desereved to be gang raped and/or forced to perform sexual favors for his crime that physicall harmed no one.

    Also I guess I missed where the judge included "rape" in the 15 month jail sentence.

    Internet tough guys, huh?

  9. Welcome by dirtsurfer · · Score: 5, Funny

    You've got jail!

  10. :-) I hope you too get assraped :~P by Vicsun · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've been sentenced for a D.U.I. offense. My 3rd one. When I first came to prison, I had no idea what to expect. Certainly none of this. I'm a tall white male, who unfortunately has a small amount of feminine characteristics. And very shy. These characteristics have got me raped so many times I have no more feelings physically. I have been raped by up to 5 black men and two white men at a time. I've had knifes at my head and throat. I had fought and been beat so hard that I didn't ever think I'd see straight again. One time when I refused to enter a cell, I was brutally attacked by staff and taken to segragation though I had only wanted to prevent the same and worse by not locking up with my cell mate. There is no supervision after lockdown. I was given a conduct report. I explained to the hearing officer what the issue was. He told me that off the record, He suggests I find a man I would/could willingly have sex with to prevent these things from happening. I've requested protective custody only to be denied. It is not available here. He also said there was no where to run to, and it would be best for me to accept things . . . . I probably have AIDS now. I have great difficulty raising food to my mouth from shaking after nightmares or thinking to hard on all this . . . . I've laid down without physical fight to be sodomized. To prevent so much damage in struggles, ripping and tearing. Though in not fighting, it caused my heart and spirit to be raped as well. Something I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for.
    -A letter to Human Rights Watch

    Prison rape is funny again, guys!

  11. He *did* represent a physical threat by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful
    7 billion spams. Say 99% of them were caught by spam filters or went to bogus addresses. That leaves 70 million spams people had to deal with by hand. If it took one second to delete each of those spams, that means he cost everyone an aggregate 2.2 years of life. If someone imprisoned you in front of a computer hitting delete over and over for 2.2 years, wouldn't you consider him to be a physical threat to you and others?

    Why is it that people think a distributed crime is any less of a crime? Do you think it'd be OK if he stole $130,000 from a bank? Then why do you think it's OK that he stole $0.0019 each (1 second's wages at $6.75/hr) from 70 million people? They work out to the same amount of money.