Spammer faces 11 years in prison
Admits to sending junk mail to 1.2m AOL subscribers
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A New York man who was snared in federal investigators' sting operation targeting senders of junk email pleaded guilty to spamming 1.2m AOL subscribers.
Adam Vitale, 26, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to violations of the CAN-Spam Act. He faces 11 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 at his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for September 13, according to a press release (PDF) provided by the US Attorney in Manhattan, who prosecuted the case.
Vitale's undoing came after he and an accomplice sent instant messages to a confidential informant bragging of their prowess in sending massive amounts of spam that couldn't be traced to their true origins. The pair also boasted of their ability to defeat the specific spam filtering software AOL deploys over its network.
The informant proposed Vitale and his accomplice, Todd Moeller, advertise an undisclosed product in return for the spammers getting a 50-per cent cut of the proceeds, prosecutors said. During a one-week span in late August of 2005, the men sent junk messages to about 1.2 million AOL users.
The pair employed relays and altered the header information in the spam they sent, both common techniques for concealing the true origins of junk mail.
Moeller has yet to enter a plea. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful. ®
COMMENTS
not a big deal
"A New York man who was snared in federal investigators' sting operation targeting senders of junk email pleaded guilty to spamming 1.2m AOL subscribers."
Well, since AOL users spammed the hell of usenet, 10 years
ago or so, and for a very long time, without any penalty, I don't
see how they could claim damage for only 1.2m spams ;-)
Probably nothing as compared to their traffic or "me too" and
similar ...
Ok, I'm going out ...
Re : Give him some work
I agree, and each mail he sends should immediately bounce so he gets feedback on how useless it is. Just like deleting spam is, for that matter.
Justice?
There is something a bit wrong with all this - 11 years for sending spam (albeit a lot, but bear with me) = huge fines/long jail terms, same for sharing mp3s/movies. Yet reading in the papers yesterday a man here got only 3 years for breaking into his neighbour's house and raping her. Oh, and this was intially a suspended sentance, only activated when he flicked a lit cigarette at his victim **just hours after the hearing**.
So crimes against an individual/that have potential to cause real harm - a slap on the wrist, essentially, compared to crimes against corporations and/or where no real harm to the individual. Eh, priorities people?
Rather than 11 years in prison (or jail, or gaol ;-P ) this chap, who obviously knows a bit about computers, should be put to better use - have him teach computer (not spamming!) skills to kids, or something useful.
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