AOL Spammer Sentenced to 15 Months

A former engineer for America Online who stole the usernames and over 92 million e-mail addresses of AOL members was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison. Jason Smathers used the stolen data to send over 7 billion spam e-mails before selling the list to another spammer for $28,000.

The 25 year-old Smathers struck a plea bargain with the government to help track down fellow spammers and, in return, received a reduced sentence. As one of the first people to be prosecuted under a new federal antispam law, Smathers had faced up to 10 years in federal prison for his actions.