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Pretty interesting story in the Boston Herald on one of the world’s top 10 spammers- a 27-year old hotshot, who was arrested this week. Apparently, he’s made a ton of money off spamming: he drives a Mercedes convertible, has an enormous luxury apartment, etc. And while companies spend up to $1000 a week trying to get rid of the volumes of spam he dumps into their inboxes, what’s truly amazing about it, is that as soon as he was arrested, people around the world noticed that they weren’t getting as much junk mail to their e-mail accounts. Insane that one person could make that much of a (negative) difference.
Thanks Adam!
I was positively gleeful when I read this news.
posted by Rhea on 6-1-2007 at 9:39 am
I doubt that people are getting less spam because this guy is not currently spamming. The event has more likely put a chilling effect on the whole spammer industry.
The same thing happened after the high-profile arrest of hacker Kevin Mitnick in 1990’s. Companies immediately reported a dramatic drop-off of hacker attacks. It wasn’t that Mitnick was causing all of the attacks, the other hackers just became instantly cautious at the news.
I am sure that in a week’s time, spam volumes will return to their normal obnoxious level. Even a ‘top 10′ spammer is just a drop in the Ocean.
posted by n2y2 on 6-1-2007 at 9:52 am
no wonder it only takes me only 20 minutes to read my mail instead of the usual 30 spent deleting a ton 1/2 of spam. :-D
thanks
posted by trouble on 6-1-2007 at 10:47 am
That’s remarkable! I had noticed for the past few days that I’ve had about a quarter of the usual volume dumped in my bulk mail folder!
posted by Vittoria on 6-1-2007 at 6:55 pm
I am really outraged at the fact that the name of such a wonderful luncheon meat has become so synonymous with evil. We should change the name fo the online “spam” to something that no one in the histroy of mankind has ever liked. I’m thinking tofu. Stop the tofuers
posted by Ernie on 6-2-2007 at 9:18 pm
My sister likes tofu.
posted by Pointy-Hatted Geek on 6-3-2007 at 1:31 pm
I think the sentencing for this guy should be a worldwide tour in which people will have an opportunity to hit him with sticks.
posted by Daniel Kim on 6-4-2007 at 5:25 am
It’s nice that they took him out, but there are plenty more to take his place.
www.techdirt.com/articles/20070601/003206.shtml
posted by Greg A. on 6-4-2007 at 7:54 am
Daniel, maybe instead of hitting with sticks, he could be pelted with Spam.
I am relieved by his capture, my inbox can’t keep up with all the “Vlagra” ads I seem to send myself!
Go figure!
posted by Lisa on 6-5-2007 at 10:45 pm