Spam – Anti-Spam

'Buffalo Spammer' arrested

By Ryan Naraine May 14, 2003

Howard Carmack, the notorious 'Buffalo Spammer' accused of sending more than 825 million unsolicited e-mails from illegal EarthLink (Quote, Chart) accounts, has been arrested and arraigned in New York on four felony and two misdemeanor counts.

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer heralded the case as the first criminal prosecution of a spammer under New York's six-month-old identity-theft statute. "Spammers who forge documents and steal the identity of others to create their e-mail traffic will be prosecuted," Spitzer said at a press conference. Spitzer lauded the cooperation of EarthLink in aiding the year-long investigation the resulted in the arrest of Carmack outside his upstate New York home. The arrest of Carmack came just a week after the Atlanta-based ISP won a $16 million judgment against a spam ring he allegedly operated. Carmack is accused of stealing credit cards and identities to fraudulently buy 343 EarthLink accounts to send shady and unwanted e-mail for such things as herbal therapy. Prosecutors said they do not yet know how he acquired the credit card information. He is also accused of banking fraud and other illegal activities arising from his spam operation, which authorities believe he operated on his own.

Spitzer said Carmack's spam cost EarthLink at least $1 million in bandwidth charges, although prosecutors believe he made little money from his endeavors. "He is a predicate felon and he's somebody we believe could face jail time if convicted," Spitzer said.

EarthLink VP of law and public policy Dave Baker applauded the decision by the N.Y. attorney general's office to arrest Carmack. "Howard Carmack's arrest demonstrates that spamming has both civil and criminal consequences. Simply put, spammers who brazenly disregard the law will wind up in jail," Baker said in a statement. After a year-long investigation, EarthLink filed suit against Carmack, alleging that his crew sent out millions of e-mails that included advertisements for computer virus scripts, get-rich-quick and "work at home" schemes, software for bulk mailing and lists of addresses to be used by other spammers.He was accused of assuming the identities of his own family members and innocent third-parties to obscure his own identity. EarthLink has a history of anti-spam success stories, including an injunction in 1997 against Sanford Wallace, then known as "most prolific spammer." Brian Morrissey contributed to this story.

'Buffalo Spammer' Sentenced to 3-1/2 to 7 Years

Yahoo News – Reuters - May 27, 2004

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A New York state man who sent out millions of "spam" e-mails was sentenced to 3-1/2 to seven years in prison, the state attorney general's office said on Thursday. Howard Carmack, known as the "Buffalo Spammer," received the maximum sentence for 14 counts of identity theft and forgery, a spokesman for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said. Carmack sent out 825 million bulk e-mail messages using stolen identities and forged addresses, the court found, and was the first defendant to face charges under the state's new identity-theft statute. He was found guilty in April. The forgery conviction fetched the longest sentence, while the other convictions drew shorter sentences of one year to four years. All will be served concurrently, Spitzer spokesman Brad Maione said. Carmack could be out in 3-1/2 should he behave in prison, Maione said. Internet provider EarthLink Inc won a $16.5 million judgment against Carmack last year, and EarthLink officials testified in the criminal trial as well. "We're satisfied that today's sentencing sends a strong message to spammers, and EarthLink will continue to investigate spammers and work with law enforcement," said EarthLink assistant general counsel Karen Cashion in a statement. Unwanted bulk messages now account for roughly 83 percent of e-mail traffic, according to filtering company Postini Inc. Many of Carmack's alleged activities are illegal under a national anti-spam law that took effect in January, seven months after he was charged.

FTC Requiring Labels on Explicit Spam

From Yahoo News - AFP - AP, Wed May 19, 2004

Internet surfers have been bombarded with spam and sucked into downloading viruses, but some see a more insidious problem known as 'spyware' which can lurk in the background, track movements and sometimes even 'hijack' a computer(AFP/File/Jean-Pierre Muller)

WASHINGTON - Sexually explicit Internet spam must now carry a warning label. A Federal Trade Commission rule went into effect Wednesday requiring that unsolicited commercial e-mail that contains sexually oriented material include the words "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" in the subject line. The rule also bars graphic images from appearing in the opening body of the message. Instead, the recipient must take some action in order to see the objectionable material, either by scrolling down in the e-mail or by clicking on a provided link. Jonathan Kraden, staff attorney with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the label "should help the computers to filter if a computer user decides to set their filtering system up to recognize these two words." He added, "It should also help the e-mail recipient filter visually so they can go through their mail and decide which messages they want to see." Industry advocates are critical of the rule, which is part of the federal "can spam" legislation that went into effect in January. "This is a back door effort to violate people's first amendment rights, whether well intentioned or not," said attorney Jonathan L. Katz of Marks & Katz, LLC, in Silver Spring, Md. He is a first amendment lawyer whose clients include members of the adult entertainment industry. Spammers who violate the rule face possible imprisonment and criminal fines of up to $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for an organization. But tracking down violators can be difficult because spammers often try to escape being directly identified by using forged return addresses or by bouncing their e-mails through unprotected relay computers on the Internet. (AP)

Sanford Wallace at Google 31 October 2009

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