A New York State man who sent at estimated 850 million spam emails using accounts he opened with purloined identities was imprisoned for up to seven years yesterday.

Howard Carmack, AKA the "Buffalo Spammer", must serve a minimum of three-and-a-half years in prison following his March conviction for spamming-related offences (forgery, identity theft and falsifying business records). Carmack was convicted of operating 343 email accounts under false names from early 2002 to May 2003, using them to send out junk mail about various get-rich-quick schemes and "herbal stimulant" pills.

Atlanta-based ISP Earthlink said it hoped the jail sentence and an earlier $16.4m judgement against Cormack would deter other would-be spammers. EarthLink assisted the New York Attorney General’s office in prosecuting Carmack. ®

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