RSS'Spam King' Behind Bars, Authorities Say
By Ed Oswald | Published May 31, 2007, 11:35 AM
The arrest of a 27-year-old Seattle man is being hailed as a major victory in the fight against spam -- and some are saying it could lead to a noticeable decrease in the amount of spam worldwide.
"Spam is a scourge of the Internet, and Robert Soloway is one of its most prolific practitioners," US Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan said. "Our investigators dubbed him the "Spam King" because he is responsible for millions of spam emails."
Soloway is accused of sending tens of millions of such mails between November 2003 and May 2007, promoting his company Newport Internet Marketing that offered "broadcast e-mail" software and services.
Federal officials arrested Soloway after a federal grand jury indicted him on 35 counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud, fraud in connection with electronic mail, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering. The federal government is also seeking $772,998 in damages.
In a court appearance Wednesday, Soloway pleaded not guilty to all charges. A public defender representing him at the hearing had no comment.
Soloway is no stranger to the courts: Microsoft won a $7 million judgment against him two years ago, and an Oklahoma ISP a $10 million judgment. However, he continued to spam even after these decisions, authorities say.
Microsoft said that Soloway was one of the top 10 spammers in the world, saying he was "a huge problem for our customers." Authorities said some were spending up to $1,000 per week to fight the spam he was sending out.
Actually, A decent email program can rid of 99.99 percent of this crap. Even the Outlook Express replacement for Vista called Windows Mail has a killer spam remover.
Only five emails so far have slipped through in months, everythin else goes to the crap folder. I get about 1000 emails a week and only the ones I want get through.
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"So I would have to say there is no demand for spam, but it is supplied anyway."
1 way to stop this is going after the people paying the spammers to spam. Once they get hit a couple times with hefty fines they might change their minds about paying someone to do their dirty work.
Your right there is always going to be a demand for spammers, but if you take away their bread and butter there would be no need for them anymore.
If I was the Government I would throw his butt in jail and get all his records of who is who and who paid him to spam and go after them with both barrels. Once this start happening then they might get the upper hand on the spam because other companies will be scared to pay someone to spam their product or services.
Just think about it...
Why do people spam?
Because companies pay them too.
What if people didn't pay them to spam?
There wouldn't be spammers.
Just my opinion.
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How about the other 9 ?
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Cut his balls off.
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So when does the bidding war begin over who wants to hire him?
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A public defender?! Let him pay his legal fees with the millions of dollars he has "earned." Jeesh, this guy must really be a [smart?] sleazeball. After receiving his spam, we get to pay his lawyers' bills, too?
BTW, if you don't want spam, get a PoBox.com account. No more spam for only a few dollars a year. (Note: I'm only a very happy customer. I have no affiliations with PoBox.com.)
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Probably got all his known bank accounts frozen / confiscated.
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And lest anyone endeavor to maybe entertain a micro hint of a macro possibility of the slightest beginning of the tiniest stirring of consideration re any hypopathetic rumination of any theoretical pity or sympathy to perphaps be shown towards this **** **** of ****, ****-**** ****, the indictment additioanally alleges multiple counts of each of the following: identity theft, fraud, & money laundering-- among various other offenses.
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The big question isn't whether he's behind bars, but whether his botnets have been shutdown.
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Hang Him!!!
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On a more serious note...they really should make this guy go through what he makes millions of people go through. Make him open and delete spam emails, day in and day out, all day, for about 5 or 6 yrs.
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Hopefully the punishment fits the crime when convicted like say 50 million spam messages that he must open and delete one by one before he can even aply for parole.
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Hopefully the punishment fits the crime...
Hopefully Bubba makes him his punk, but he then exacts revenge by pulling a Lorena Bobbitt-- and Bubba bleeds to death.
Subsequently, one of the responding guards(a psycho who happens to not only abuse other immates, but his own family as well...remaining untouched by the law due to lack of sufficient evidence) slips on the blood, falls and splits his head wide open on some metal.
Consequently, the punk is sentenced to death-- thus killing off: not one, & no- not even two, but three shy_tbirds with one stone.
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If he was already in court twice, and has handed out over 17 million and still hasnt stopped why would they be able to stop him now? He has a public defender? Obviusly he knows the laws well enough to escape through the loopholes.
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Yeah, so don't do anything, just let him be.
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He was only fined before, now he's in prison. Let's see him send out spam from there.
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I hope he'll be sued in Texas and gets a death penalty. That will teach other spammers a lesson.
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Like, "Don't Get Caught"...
Or, "Don't base it in the US"....
As long as there's money to be had....
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I hope this trend will continue.
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I think I got this guys spam.. and it has reduced my spam!
It is the one that says advertise via spam over and over..
I couldn't be happier.
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Gee, and I thought that they were referring to Jay Hormel!
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This wont change the amount of spam at all. Not one bit.
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While this is a victory, it will do nothing to solve the problem. If his resources get shut down, someone else will do the job.
Spam prevention requires education at the corporate & individual level. Like drugs (another losing war) as long as there is a demand, there will always be a supplier.
Reach over 1 million people with your product ad for pennies! (I get this ad almost daily). There will always be someone out there who will think this is a cost effective advertising solution without considering the ramifications of their decision.
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"Like drugs (another losing war) as long as there is a demand, there will always be a supplier."
There is a demand for drugs because people want them. Spam, is not something I often hear people praying to come across a dealer for because they need it. So I would have to say there is no demand for spam, but it is supplied anyway. Kinda like viruses, do people pray their computers become infected with them? That is another thing I don't hear shouting for.
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So I would have to say there is no demand for spam, but it is supplied anyway.
The demand is supplied by the advertisers who pay these guys.
Just because they're not hanging out on street corners in no way means they aren't soliciting these guys like crack-babies looking for their sugar-daddy.
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You don't get it.. Of course spam is not in demand, cheap advertising is in demand by anybody looking to make a buck...
I knew a CEO i had to educate a bit as his opinion was "send the mail out, everybody gets junk mail, what is a bit more" after some logical explainations about how hated it was and some of the penalties like ISP's blocking our domain, he woke up and saw the light...
Again.. business especially need to be educated.
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Psssst...Hey Mister...you wanna buy some Viagra ?
No ?...Okay, then I have some hot stocks that might interest you. ;>
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ROFLMAO!!
Thanks. Needed that.
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DAR MR PC_TOOL
I WORK FOR BANK OF NIGERIA. MR TONY TOOL, A NIGIERAN DIAMAND MINE OWNER RECENTLY DIED LEAVING 50 GAZILLION POUND AND NO HEIRS...
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You don't get it..
Everyone gets spam. :p
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