Slashdot Mirror
A Spamming Attorney Gets Sentenced To 40 Months
www.sorehands.com writes "While one spammer, Robert Soloway, gets released on probation, the Feds send another, Robert Smoley, to the slammer for 40 months.
I know about Smoley because I tracked him down, and beat him in court. Not only was he an attorney, he still has not lost his license, yet. The IRS contacted me as a result of seeing my web site, and I gladly assisted the IRS in tracking his business. He not only bounced a check on me, but stiffed his local counsel and one of his ISPs."
What is it about Roberts?
And someone needs to teach the guy who wrote the website how to attach a .css
Just block "Robert S.*ol.*y".
Aren't you that Time Cube guy?
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
"...Attorney... sentenced..."
Victory.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
what is this i don't even
According to the linked Miami Herald article, he got sentenced for running an online pharmacy, not for spamming. Big change in tone of the article. Spamming just lead to some one being annoyed enough at the guy to help the IRS track him down.
I am conflicted.
The owner of that website is either a drama queen or a troll. There's a space in the footer that links to this: http://barbieslapp.com/z-ads/trapper_1.htm
If I had had my morning coffee I could conjure the words to describe how ridiculous that is.
So you were doing work for a spammer and now you're suddenly all holier-than-thou because he didn't pay you?
I guess you've made a few calls to the BSA in your time, too.
Read the article much?
The payments were for a court-ordered judgement.
It had to be Florida, didn't it? I think the whole state economy must basically be scams, spam and other illegal activities.. I've had dealing with a few FL lawyers in my time too.. and a lot of them have been directly engaged in the criminal activities of their clients too.
And Ben Bernanke, et al, still walk free.
He was running an illegal online pharmacy.
The writer of the article had previously gotten a judgment against the guy for spamming.
He sued the spammer and won.
The spammer wrote a bad check to him as payment.
Work bio at MMWD
From Wikipedia, "Laurence A. Canter and Martha S. Siegel were partners in a husband-and-wife firm of lawyers who on April 12, 1994 posted the first massive commercial Usenet spam . . . Canter and Siegel were not the first Usenet spammers. The "Green Card" spam was, however, the first commercial Usenet spam, and its unrepentant authors are seen as having fired the starting gun for the legions of spammers that now occupy the Internet." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor_and_Seagal
But this case seems to be more about wire fraud, than spam.
But still, thanks a lot Cantor and Siegel! You should have patented it! "A Method and Process of Sending Unwanted Advertisements to Everyone on the Internet, Which They Don't Want, and Don't need."
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I'm starting to think you're trolling, as you're coming across as deliberately dense, but here ya go.
When you wish to have patent trolls on spam, you don't get them.
So some guy who sent out spam was convicted and jailed for something not related to his spam. Really he might as well have been ticketed for jaywalking, it would be just as useful in regards to the spamming epidemic. In the end this kind of crap will never make one iota of difference in global spam volumes or the problems that come from them.
As long as there is money to be made from sending spam, spam will continue to be sent. The only way to end spam is to detach spammers from their revenue sources, period. This did not accomplish that so the spam will continue.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
It certainly can't be "easily" filtered. It also costs money to people running mail servers and generally puts strain on the net. How about you just don't spam, eh?
Ever hear of Al Capone? They got him on tax evasion.
Last year, someone sent in a traffic ticket with a not guilty plea on it. The ticket had blood on it, and it led to a major drug bust. Or a
traffic stop for an open alchohol container lead to a
heroin-trafficking arrest
Many times, the investigation started as one thing, but led to others. From my read of the case docket is that the IRS was investigating Smoley for failing to file tax returns and Silverstein's web site and chat led them to the internet pharmacy.
You don't remember the /. story about Russia's most prolific spammer a couple of years back.
Hint: it was an obituary / whodunnit
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
That is one messed up website...
Words are only yours until someone else uses them...
Settlement != judgement. Why do you think a settlement for such a large amount? Try again.
You bastard, now where am I gonna get my Viagra? There goes my prime tail.
Table-ized A.I.
Perhaps I am in the minority BUT...
Can someone explain to me why precisely spam is so serious an offense as it would appear to slashdot users? Why are there countless posts of slashdotters -- whether in jest or not -- calling for the death and conviction of "spammers"?
Last I checked, spam has never hurt me or any of my loved ones. Spam has annoyed me. Spam has brought my inbox closer to its quota, but it has never actually physically, materially or financially harmed me.
So I do not wish any spammer go to prison for ten years -- why would I wish such a fate upon someone whose crime against me has not diminished my livelihood at all?
Our prisons are over-populated and its because Americans have some seriously flawed values. I can understand slashdotters annoyance with spammers but I do not understand slashdotters apparent blood-thirst for them. Can any of you please explain to me why precisely spammers are so evil and deserving of punishment? Perhaps you can convince me -- please, I just want to know!
I don't care who wins, as long as the battle is long and bloody. Pass the popcorn....
These anti-spam crusaders are getting annoying. Seriously, people have nothing better to do with their time. They fancy themselves nothing short of Nazi hunters. Get a spam filter or open a gmail account.
I can't possibly imagine how anti-spammers are annoying anyone other than the dirtbag spammer themselves. And really... Nazis? Please. Your strawman argument amounts to less than even a good net trolling.
Personally, I applaud Mr. Silverstein's actions. I'm glad there's someone out there with the guts to go after these thieving scumbags.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
What an obnoxious and offensive footer his web site has. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth that makes it all feel like he's being turned into an Attorney himself.
But still, thanks a lot Cantor and Siegel! You should have patented it! "A Method and Process of Sending Unwanted Advertisements to Everyone on the Internet, Which They Don't Want, and Don't need."
The PR industry (c. early 1900s) is way ahead of them. And if Bernays had patented the technique, it would have expired long ago. Except for the Internet part. So you're right, they could have patented it. Except the patent would expire in 3 years. Unless someone could figure out a slight modification, or an iApp, that was worthy of another patent. Except that couldn't happen.
Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need. -- Will Rogers
Spammign is always bad, Internet pharmacys are a blessing.
“The Smoley drug trafficking organization fed the habits of drug seekers while its members chose profits over the health and well-being of those customers,” said DEA special agent Anthony
How does giving people meds they cant get cause they cant afford to go to the doctor hurt patients. Yes, some will overdose, Darwin takes care of that. People overdose on Ibuproifn all the time. As long as hes really shipping the medications requested I don't see a problem with it. Just more uneducated DEA saber rattling.
--- Always remember. 99.36% of all statistics are inaccurate.
Spamming is a technical problem with a technical solution. On a personal level, I feel deeply suspicious of people who take it upon themselves to act in what they assume might as well be my best interests. There are laws controlling spam and there are law enforcement agencies (God knows the US has no shortage of those). Silverstein should find a new hobby, like suing his neighbors for not trimming their lawns on time or failing to scoop dog shit.
It seems he has a beef against Mattel for some reason, but after 15 minutes skimming through all I could find was stuff about how they tried to silence him and his demands for an apology. I never found what exactly he has against them.
When you offer email service to someone else and they sign up for stuff don't get upset when they receive an email they asked for.
Huh? If someone signs up for an e-mail, then it is not spam.
However, if I sign up for one thing, it is does not authorize everyone else in the world to e-mail me. Buyig a list is not buying permission.
Inserting an '@' in my e-mail address does not indicate that I want marketing material from every insurance lead generator in the world.
If Charlie Sheen gives me Denise Richards telephone number and address, does that give me permission to spend the night with her?
Spamming is a technical problem with a technical solution. On a personal level, I feel deeply suspicious of people who take it upon themselves to act in what they assume might as well be my best interests. There are laws controlling spam and there are law enforcement agencies (God knows the US has no shortage of those). Silverstein should find a new hobby, like suing his neighbors for not trimming their lawns on time or failing to scoop dog shit.
Your post advocates a
(X) technical (X) legislative ( ) market-based ( ) vigilante
approach to fighting spam. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)
( ) Spammers can easily use it to harvest email addresses
(X) Mailing lists and other legitimate email uses would be affected
( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money
( ) It is defenseless against brute force attacks
(X) It will stop spam for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it
(X) Users of email will not put up with it
( ) Microsoft will not put up with it
( ) The police will not put up with it
(X) Requires too much cooperation from spammers
( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once
(X) Many email users cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers
( ) Spammers don't care about invalid addresses in their lists
( ) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business
Specifically, your plan fails to account for
( ) Laws expressly prohibiting it
(X) Lack of centrally controlling authority for email
(X) Open relays in foreign countries
( ) Ease of searching tiny alphanumeric address space of all email addresses
(X) Asshats
(X) Jurisdictional problems
( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes
( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money
( ) Huge existing software investment in SMTP
( ) Susceptibility of protocols other than SMTP to attack
( ) Willingness of users to install OS patches received by email
( ) Armies of worm riddled broadband-connected Windows boxes
( ) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches
(X) Extreme profitability of spam
( ) Joe jobs and/or identity theft
(X) Technically illiterate politicians
(X) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who do business with spammers
(X) Dishonesty on the part of spammers themselves
(X) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering
( ) Outlook
and the following philosophical objections may also apply:
(X) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever been shown practical
( ) Any scheme based on opt-out is unacceptable
( ) SMTP headers should not be the subject of legislation
( ) Blacklists suck
( ) Whitelists suck
(X) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored
( ) Countermeasures should not involve wire fraud or credit card fraud
( ) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks
( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually
( ) Sending email should be free
( ) Why should we have to trust you and your servers?
( ) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses
( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
( ) Temporary/one-time email addresses are cumbersome
( ) I don't want the government reading my email
(X) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough
Furthermore, this is what I think about you:
(X) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.
(X) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your house down!
Similar to the upcoming US election results
attorney can't get himself out of a 40 month conviction for spamming.
find a new day job.
The sentences in the USA are often insane. In some states, you even can get a lifetime sentence just for shoplifting, if you are caught the third time. Yes, this is idiotic, because it is known for a long time now, that maximizing the punishment for a certain offense does not keep anyone from committing that offense. The reason is that people usually think that they will not be caught. So, the solution is not to punish harder, but to increase the fear of getting caught.
IIRC back in time when abductions of celeb's kids for ransom increased greatly, some states in the USA put that under death penalty. It did not make things better, it made them worse, because now the abductors just killed their victims, so they could not identify them.
Of course, I would not hire him since he can't keep himself out of jail, even when he planned the crimes.
It seems to me like he was in a lot more trouble than justthe 2 charges he pled guilty to! When one pleads guilty to two crimes and gets 40 months getting $40M seized, one must wonder what other crimes that he bargained out of? Criminal spamming, tax evasion, conspiracy?
A member in good standing according to the Florida Bar. Which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the Florida Bar..
Never email donotemail@WeAreSpammers.com
Well executed troll. Minimum effort, maximum gain.
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
Charlie Sheen? Is that you?
It's pretty simple to filter and it doesn't "strain" the net. I don't think I've gotten more than one spam email a week for the past few years and my email address is all over the internet. It's a non-issue people like to make into an issue.
Words are only yours until someone else uses them...
Oh, so that's why I've been getting all those penis enlargement spam mails? The spammer is a lawyer, aka a big dick.
Aren't you that Time Cube guy?
No, it's not centred.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
It certainly can't be "easily" filtered. It also costs money to people running mail servers and generally puts strain on the net. How about you just don't spam, eh?
The point is that it's annoying, but then so is unwanted paper junk mail, but no one thinks mailshot providers should be sent to prison.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Useless anecdote. Got any more?
Happen to remember any specifics? I'm running near the end of my last shift this rotation so my brains a little frazzled and my google-fu has proven weak.
I know you are trolling, but, stealing millions of dollars 0.1 cents at a time is still stealing millions of dollars.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
The "history of the lawsuit" page was interesting reading, but while reading I followed a link and was told in no uncertain terms that I was to leave the site immediately... I take it he won in the end?
Paul "TBBle" Hampson
Paul.Hampson@Pobox.Com
I'd have thought an attorney would act as his own counsel.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Sounds like you are one of those spammers that got his little pee pee slapped by Silverstein.
Put an attorney AND a spammer in the clink, just makes my eyes all teary....
"What this country needs now is a drink." -FDR
I'd say it's pretty apt.