New Hampshire Man Sentenced To 7 Years For Robo-Calling Malware

alphadogg writes with this excerpt from Network World: "A New Hampshire man who made $8 million by installing unwanted dial-up software on computers and then forcing them to call expensive premium telephone numbers was handed down an 82-month sentence this week. Prosecutors say that between 2003 and 2007, Asu Pala and others put together a lucrative business by setting up premium telephone numbers in Germany — similar to the 1-900 numbers used in the US — and then infecting German PCs with software that would automatically dial the numbers for short periods of time." Do that many people still have modems attached?

Comments

Re:That will teach him!

[mr100percent]

It's more to make an example and prevent others from thinking of doing the same.

Re:That will teach him!

[mapkinase]

"Why not make the guy work towards paying back the victims " this is unlikely. How much of $30M Simpson paid back to his victim's families?

"punitive vs retributive" you forgot the deterrent component - that is what important. Geeks and nerds (perpetrators of such crimes) are afraid of the prison much more than street-tough guys (perpetrators of conventional off-line crimes).