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Fuzzy Logic Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam.
Fuzzy Logic Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam. | Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam. |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Saturday, 02 June 2007 | |
  
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Not only has he been arrested, but he is now lumbered with the inglorious distinction of being the first spammer in the US to be charged under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 with identity theft, a law passed to help stem the flow of spam, but if the flow of spam has slowed, has anyone noticed given the volume of spam is reported to have doubled to 70 billion a day from 36 billion this time last year? Despite all the evidence against Solway, he has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges, but faces up to 65 years in jail if his defense attempt fails. In an ominous sign for the fallen spammer, he has been refused bail. Sadly, due to the globalized nature of the spam industry, taking down this one man will be as effective as taking down a mafia don or the leader of a terrorist group – there are spammers aplenty, some doing much more damage than Solway, still out there sending spams to anyone with an email address, with the worst offenders now found in Russia and parts of Eastern Europe, although plenty of spammers still operate in the US, China and many other countries around the globe. Solway has been known to authorities for some time as a serial spammer, even going so far as to sell a spamming product, euphemistically called “broadcast email”, through a company called Newport Internet Marketing Corp., starting at US $195 and rising to US $495. Solway had also created a ‘botnet’, or a massive computer network of compromised computers under his control, known in the industry as ‘zombies’, able to send out spam messages under the cloak of the botnet, making the blocking of his emails more difficult. Worse still, especially for someone who should in theory be trying to minimize attention to himself, consumers who had purchased his “broadcast email” software but wanted a refund found themselves facing a hostile response, threatening collection agency action or even extra fees instead of a simple no-questions-asked refund. Given the international nature of the spamming business, Solway’s arrest has likely caused waves within the illegal industry, putting spammers on alert to better hide their tracks from the newly emboldened authorities. Interestingly, there is one way for the email users of the world to throw a ‘spammer’ into the works of the big spam operations, and that’s to NEVER buy anything from spam. Sadly, it’s the act of a few selfish, foolish or unknowing people buying products from the spammers that keeps the business viable. Only a tiny percentage of respondents to 70 billion spam emails on a daily basis need to take the spam bait and buy some fake Viagra or a fake Rolex or whatever else the spammers are offering (when it’s not spyware or worse) to deliver spammers a handsome profit. As with many global problems, if everyone did their bit in studiously ignoring spam, we could solve the spam problem tomorrow by making the sending of spam too expensive for the criminals to bother with. Unfortunately, such unified global action rarely seems to happen, meaning the other spam kings are busily out there – right now – sending the spam messages you’ve just received. We’re as glad as anyone that Robert Alan Solway has been arrested. It’s just a great shame that it’ll have virtually zero effect in eliminating spam! {moscomment} |
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