RSSMicrosoft, Texas Settle with Spammer
By Ed Oswald | Published June 5, 2006, 12:54 PM
One of the world's most prolific spammers has settled with Microsoft and the state of Texas for $1 million, including the seizure of most of his assets. Ryan Pitylak, 24, was accused of sending 25 million mails per day and was considered the fourth worst spammer in the world by Spamhaus.
Neither Microsoft nor the state of Texas had publicly announced the settlement, which came last month. Instead, the first public mention of an agreement came in Pitylak's personal web log, where he announced he was starting his own antispam consulting firm.
"Over time I have come to see how I was wrong to think of spam as just a game of cat and mouse with corporate email administrators," he wrote. "I now understand why so much effort is put into stopping it." The company, Pitylak Security, would consult clients on methods to curb spam.
While some may be skeptical of Pitylak's sudden change of heart, it should be mentioned that hiring the "bad guy" in tech has worked before. Some of the world's biggest companies hire former hackers whose sole job is to attempt to hack into company systems to ensure security.
"I'm now working earnestly to help other entrepreneurs avoid the traps that deceived me and led me to make questionable business choices," he claims.
The $1 million fine is from the Microsoft settlement, along with a pledge to never again send spam e-mails. Terms of the state's deal have not been disclosed, as the deal was still being completed.
Among the items to be sold by Pitylak to cover legal bills and fines are a $430,000 house near Austin, and a 2005 BMW luxury sedan.
so where does this $1 mill go to? microsoft? wtf if it does, they aren't even the affected users, the users dealing with this spam is me and you and they get the money? total crap i must say
Score: 0
|Oh, please! Quit b****in about MS and thank them for spending their money along with the State of Texas in getting this guy out of your email box. You should be thanking them that you didn't have to spend a dime in cleaning up your inbox.
Since the guy lives in Texas as was spamming the Servers owned by MS, they sought the help of the Texas DA to take the guy down.
Perhaps you should even look at the millions that MS donates to organizations every year.
What next, "I work for MS"?
*shaking head disgusted look*
Score: 0
|While I can see the benefits this person can bring to the problem of spamming, im having prolems accepting him from giveing out the message that crime does pay.
I think in an ideal world in future such people should be banned from owning/using a computer for a limited time as punnishment for the damage they have caused the industry.
This clearly says you can spam and hack all you like and when you get too good and get busted yo can just profit from it all over again, Crime doesnt pay huh ?
Score: 0
|It is a PITY he LAcKed the insight into anti-spamming before he started generating junk.
Score: 0
|So my idea of the death penalty for spammers and virus/trojan authors never took hold? I can't believe someone didn't at least break this guy's legs.
Score: 0
|Isn't this just typical, the rich get richer and I'm not talking about Pitylak either. The state of Texas and Microsoft both end ep with a windfall.
What about the hosting companies whos server are shut down by these spam bots ? What about the poor slobs like you and I that have to put up with spam on a daily basis especially from Hotmail, which microsoft fails to keep up with these attacks (hat is off to Yahoo Mail).
How about taking that 1 million along with hundreds of millions of dollars that Microsoft has taken from us over the years and donating it to a worthy non profit cause......
Cheers
Score: 0
|It would have been nice to see some jail time - even 6 months (along with the fines) would make many spammers think again.
Score: 0
|$430,000 house near Austin
I'll buy it form him...
So long as I can give it to him in pennies. He can stand on the big red X, and I'll have the truck dump them from the top of the IDS building.
One penny thrown from the top might not hurt some one, but I'm guessing four-hundred thirty million of them just might.
I'll just claim I SPAMmed him with pennies.
Score: 0
|why not take it a step further and spam them with bullets?
Score: 0
|you might also say you're slapping some cents into him. (LAME JOKE SORRY!)
Score: 0
|Awesome. I applaud your sense of humor. That rocked.
Score: 0
|Because then I don't get the house?
Score: 0
|I too thought that was funny!
Score: 0
|good we have canned another spammer
Score: 0
|