Spammer Gets 9 Years

[toddharr]

[quote=DigitalSkyline]True... but the punishment should fit the crime. QUOTE]

A valid point. How about they just serve the time they cost the spam recipients? How long is 9 million spams at 5 seconds per address?

[Altair]

[quote=toddharr]

Originally Posted by DigitalSkyline

True... but the punishment should fit the crime. QUOTE]

A valid point. How about they just serve the time they cost the spam recipients? How long is 9 million spams at 5 seconds per address?

Sorry for the delay, but I got slammed with work today. I kind of wanted to continue this discussion.

This is an interesting idea, but how do you propose they enforce this? How will they know for sure just which emails were sent by that individual, and not somebody spoofing that persons IP address, or perhaps spoofing all of their information to look like one of the top spammers in the world?

I feel that you are incorrect in stating that the snail spam offers are paid for just by the corporations that send them. You see, US Postal workers are government employees, thus we as the general population pay for their work and equipment. If they are over burdened with mail... We have to pay for the required sorting machines, new mail vehicles, new staff, and so on. The amount of money that they receive from postage is not enough to cover salaries and all of that.

As for the time it takes to delete the spam emails... You will spend as much, if not more time walking to your garbage can to throw the snail spam away. This also costs money, by increasing the amount of garbage in each house/business that the corporation tries to market to. Again, garbage men... err... Sanitation Engineers are also government employees, if I'm not mistaken, and an increase in garbage means that we must pay for their new workers and machines as well. So you see? If you are talking about time and money, the dreaded email spam, is nothing in comparison to snail spam and thus, the punishment should be little more than a fine... If anything.

As much as I hate making more work for myself... It is up to the techies to build better software to catch this type of thing. A good techie loves a challenge, and I can't think of a stronger challenge than trying to teach a computer how to see and remove spam.

If you really do not want spam, then simply join one of those services that will not allow email to get to you unless the sender address is confirmed by the sender. Inconvenient, yes, but effective... For now.

I believe I have the true solution to stopping spam. You see, if spam didn't work, then it wouldn't be used. Spam offers WORK, just like snail spam, they make sales. If people would stop going to the sites that the spam offers link to, then the spam would stop. Very simply said... VERY hard to impliment.

[awen]

I think everyone is just a little confused here.

Sending out millions of emails to "Come see my site" is spam.

Sending out millions of emails under aliases and bogus "From" addressess advertising bogus products and scams is still spamming, but it's also FRAUD.

I say prosecute him under similar laws that are applied to postal fraud.

[mresell]

Awen, that is the big deal to me. This guy did many fraudulent things. Altho, I still think more monetary and less jail time is the way to go or other means of paying his dues, like community service. If we have prisons, I think they need to have people there that are a real threat to others safety.

There is no reason not to use opt-in lists or that approach and be offering a real service or product. I think most business people understand getting new business is important, but the offers, over 98% are filled with fraudulent and obscene offers and addresses etc..illegal all over. I do not do any business over the phone and if it were email I would not, but I might consider their offerings if they presented themselves properly and I checked them out. If I get UCE from someone who is professional and it is something I may have an interest in I do not get offended. I assume as a business person they got my name thru a particular channel. If they state where they got it, I mind even less. But how can you consider buying drugs for example from some unknown email? Very freaky. The whole system definitely needs to change.

The comment about guarding their (AOL) systems is a catch22. They can police their systems better, but that means giving up freedoms. For example being forced to use an isp's email servers not your own. It ends up being many suffering for the sake of a few.