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Spammer sentenced to seven years in prison

By Carolyn Thompson, The Associated Press May 27 2004 12:36PM


A man who sent 850 million junk e-mails through accounts he opened with stolen identities was sentenced to up to seven years in prison on Thursday. Atlanta-based Internet service provider Earthlink Inc. said it hoped the sentence and an earlier $16.4 million civil judgment against Howard Carmack will deter other spammers. "Before spammers send one more spam e-mail, we think they should remember that what happened to Howard Carmack can happen to them," said Karen Casion, Earthlink's assistant general counsel. Jurors sentenced Carmack to seven years for convictions in March of forgery, identity theft and falsifying business records. He must serve a minimum 3 1/2 years. Earthlink said Carmack ran 343 illegal e-mail accounts under false names from 2002 until his arrest last May, using them to send unsolicited e-mail ads for things like get-rich-quick schemes and sexual enhancers. Carmack told the judge he believed the case against him was overblown, saying there were no victims. "I obviously regret this whole involvement," he said. Carmack was convicted of defrauding EarthLink and eight men from New York, Ohio and Washington, D.C. Last May, the company won a $16.4 million civil judgment against Carmack.

Now hopefully this assclown ends up being someones b!tch in the pokey... Man I hate spammers!

STRESSTEST wrote:Now hopefully this assclown ends up being someones b!tch in the pokey... Man I hate spammers!

HOOOOORAH!!!

ISP's = 1
Spammers = 0

But he was jailed for identity fraud - NOT for spamming. A small, but very important distinction I think.

STRESSTEST wrote:Carmack told the judge he believed the case against him was overblown, saying there were no victims. "I obviously regret this whole involvement," he said. Carmack was convicted of defrauding EarthLink and eight men from New York, Ohio and Washington, D.C.

heh, "no victims" (cept for those 8 obvious men), what a dumbas$.

and also, i wonder if those 8 men were dealing with identity theft, or they just believed the nigeria scams (in which case they are also teh dumbas$es).

it's a shame this guy was relatively new to the spamming game, he only started in 2002. i wish we could catch the big fish.


good point mobi. we have anti-spam laws here in the lucky land of OZ (australia) , do you have em in NZ too?

maybe he'll get a few unsolicited late night "spammings" himself HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

AceCombat wrote:

STRESSTEST wrote:Now hopefully this assclown ends up being someones b!tch in the pokey... Man I hate spammers!

HOOOOORAH!!!

ISP's = 1
Spammers = 0

Correction- S=Spammers
I=ISP'S

S=1XP (poplulaion)XS-P*

I HATE SPAMMERS!!!

*Made at random

Rotten Tomato wrote:

AceCombat wrote:

STRESSTEST wrote:Now hopefully this assclown ends up being someones b!tch in the pokey... Man I hate spammers!

HOOOOORAH!!!

ISP's = 1
Spammers = 0

Correction- S=Spammers
I=ISP'S

S=1XP (poplulaion)XS-P*

I HATE SPAMMERS!!!

*Made at random

It shows

I agree with mobius - the guy wasn't really sentenced for spamming, he was sentenced for identity theft.

Regardless of his conviction, that's one less spammer sending useless email. Kind of like a mobster going to jail for tax evasion.

Spamford Wallace, though free, is the primary reason why we have spam filters, RBLs, and popup-blockers. Who's up for a blanket party?

Erflink wrote:Carmack ran 343 illegal e-mail accounts under false names from 2002 until his arrest last May

.... you can get put in jail for registering email accounts under false names? Jesus... I've registered under false names numero times!!! ... maybe it's because his email accounts where "illegal"... what is an "illegal" email account...

of forgery, identity theft and falsifying business records.

Nothing about Spamming in there

[edit]Oh, yeah I agree with Mobi [/edit]

Sage wrote:

Erflink wrote:Carmack ran 343 illegal e-mail accounts under false names from 2002 until his arrest last May

.... you can get put in jail for registering email accounts under false names? Jesus... I've registered under false names numero times!!! ... maybe it's because his email accounts where "illegal"... what is an "illegal" email account...

i don't think the registering of illegal email accounts was what he was busted for. but it does give the layman an idea on what spammers do.

i mean, i give false information to everyone i don't like, especially TELEMARKETERS. ("nono, my name isn't Jordan Press it's Hellaeagoilio Guatamasta. is my house morgaged? no sir, i have 6 wives, i own a lamborgini, and you caught me on the phone at this address as a fluke, because i only use this house as a torture chamber. your records on me sure are screwed there, can i clear up anything else?")

there's no law that states that you have to tell the anyone you don't want to. cept for governmet departments and other stuff that involves the word "fraud".

i mean, if that wasn't teh case, then i could charge you with fraud for registering on a forum with anything other than your correct personal details.