Ripped from ircspy:
"One American bulk-emailer has fallen foul of new laws to prevent the use of spam. Howard Carmack is the first to face charges under New York state's new identity theft laws, reports Reuters.
Dubbed the 'Buffalo spammer', Carmack has just been found guilty on 14 counts of identity theft and forgery. He now faces between three and a half and seven years in prison, according to the New York Attorney General's office.
He stood accused of sending out 825 million e-mail messages using forged addresses and stolen identities.
Spam, of course, is high on the political and technical agenda for the computer industry, with one recent survey estimating that fifty-six per cent of email is spam.
This week we have reported on EU attempts to implement anti-spam laws, and last month Bill Gates felt obliged to pledge Microsoft action on spam email. And there is also the increasing connection between viruses and spam, with infected machines becoming spam-relay servers. Indeed, according to MessageLabs, two thirds of spam is sent via hijacked PCs.
In this context, how do you feel about the prosecution of individuals, such as Howard Carmack? Will spammers have to face severe personal consequences to be deterred, or is a technological solution required to remove their potential to exist in the first place?"
-Xionide
"One American bulk-emailer has fallen foul of new laws to prevent the use of spam. Howard Carmack is the first to face charges under New York state's new identity theft laws, reports Reuters.
Dubbed the 'Buffalo spammer', Carmack has just been found guilty on 14 counts of identity theft and forgery. He now faces between three and a half and seven years in prison, according to the New York Attorney General's office.
He stood accused of sending out 825 million e-mail messages using forged addresses and stolen identities.
Spam, of course, is high on the political and technical agenda for the computer industry, with one recent survey estimating that fifty-six per cent of email is spam.
This week we have reported on EU attempts to implement anti-spam laws, and last month Bill Gates felt obliged to pledge Microsoft action on spam email. And there is also the increasing connection between viruses and spam, with infected machines becoming spam-relay servers. Indeed, according to MessageLabs, two thirds of spam is sent via hijacked PCs.
In this context, how do you feel about the prosecution of individuals, such as Howard Carmack? Will spammers have to face severe personal consequences to be deterred, or is a technological solution required to remove their potential to exist in the first place?"
-Xionide
