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Whatever Happened To Sanford "Spamford" Wallace?

Posted by Unknown on from the dj-master-spam dept.

Tackhead writes "People of a certain age — the age before email filters were effective, may remember a few mid-90s buzzwords like 'bulletproof hosting' and 'double opt-in.' People may remember that Hormel itself conceded that although 'SPAM' referred to their potted meat product, the term 'spam' could refer to unsolicited commercial email. People may also remember AGIS, Cyberpromo, Sanford 'Spam King' Wallace, and Walt Rines. Ten years after a 2003 retrospective on Rines and Wallace, Ars Technica reminds us that the more things change, the more they stay the same."

3 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Why isn't he in jail? by Somebody+Is+Using+My · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's in debt to the courts for millions, fails to show up for his court appearances and has repeatedly returned to a life of crime. It's not even as if his lawyer is getting him off. He's a continual recidivist and shows no intention of reforming his ways. Even if the cases themselves were merely civil disputes, his failure to live up his court-ordered responsibilities should have consequences.

    Why isn't this jackass in jail yet? He's far more deserving than some poor punk who had the bad luck to get caught with a baggie of pot in his pocket.

    1. Re:Why isn't he in jail? by Tom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Because our justice system has turned from protecting the public good and society in general towards protecting individual property and particular interest laws.

      That's why you can spam millions of people for years (do the math, even at half a second per mail, that's quite a few wasted lifetimes) and get a slap on the wrist ($4 mio? if he weren't a fool that would've been pocket change for an Internet criminal - see Kimble).

      But copy a few MP3s and you're down for your life savings. Have a bit of pot on you and off to jail.

      It's an entirely different tragedy of the commons - the justice system utterly fails to protect the public at large from deaths by a million cuts, i.e. by small offenses that multiply into the thousands and millions.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  2. double opt-in by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    I saw a movie with that title once, but (to my surprise) it wasn't about Email...

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .