First Arrest Made in U.S. For Spimming 242
prostoalex writes "U.S. federal authorities have conducted the first arrest for spimming. Eighteen-year-old Anthony Greco was arrested for sending spam to instant messenger users of MySpace.com." From the article: "Greco had allegedly threatened to share his methods for spamming members of the group if MySpace.com didn't sign an exclusive marketing deal that would have legitimized the messages he was sending via the service."
Arrested for spimming or extortion? (Score:5, Interesting)
So, the spimmer isn't really under arrest for spimming, but for extortion. Right?
The real question (Score:4, Interesting)
is spam a USA society problem ? (Score:1, Interesting)
because it sure looks like it [spamhaus.org], and people wonder why the Americans get such a bad reputation, perhaps spamassasin should use the dollar sign as a "+5 US currency mentioned"
correct.... (Score:2, Interesting)
From lawguru.com:
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EXTORTION n. obtaining money or property by threat to a victim's property or loved ones, intimidation, or false claim of a right (such as pretending to be an IRS agent). It is a felony in all states, except that a direct threat to harm the victim is usually treated as the crime of robbery. Blackmail is a form of extortion in which the threat is to expose embarrassing, damaging information to family, friends or the public.
BLACKMAIL n. the crime of threatening to reveal embarrassing, disgraceful or damaging facts (or rumors) about a person to the public, family, spouse or associates unless paid off to not carry out the threat. It is one form of extortion (which may include other threats such as physical harm or damage to property).
Work For Spam (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't even gotten any SpIm but I can't see how it's anywhere near as bad as spam.
1) I don't store my IM's forever (I don't store them at all)
2) I don't accept IM's from strangers
3) IM's are synchronous. So, I won't turn on my computer to find 100 spims waiting for me.
First Arrest Made in U.S. For Spimming (Score:2, Interesting)
Did he honestly think he could get away with this? Uhmm, never mind. TFA explains that he did.
And banks and mortgage peddlers walk (Score:1, Interesting)
Which banks? Name names. Which mortgage brokers? Name names.
What about the banks and mortgage brokers, Mr. Hoffstadt? Which banks and mortgage brokers are you bringing charges against, Mr. Hoffstadt? As you well know, Mr. Hoffstadt, not only does the federal government have the ability to claim federal jurisdiction in actions involving banks, but also the nature of the crime crosses state lines and can be brought under federal jurisdiction under that excuse, as well as various federal banking laws and regulations.
So what are the names of the banks you are bringing action against, Mr. Hoffstadt? What are the names of the mortgage brokers? What are the names of the individuals working for the mortgage brokers? All these individuals and entities are required to be licensed in the states in which they do business. And fall under federal control under banking laws. So how many banks are losing their license in this action, Mr. Hoffstadt? How many mortgage brokers are losing their license, Mr. Hoffstadt? How many individual mortgage broker employees are losing their individual license, Mr. Hoffstadt?
Until you crack down on the funders of the spammers, until you crack down on the real criminals, you are blowing hot air, Mr. Hoffstadt.
Spim is not MSN Messenger (Score:4, Interesting)
It allows network messages to be sent via the Messenger Service.
I used to work at an ISP in my area, we got calls all the time with those "Your computer will reboot" pop ups. We walked the user through disabling the Messenger Service (Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services), then spent 5 minutes explaining that Messenger Service and MSN Messenger are two diferent programs. Finally, we wraped up the conversation by telling them to buy a firewall, or switch to our dsl service, and get a free router.
I now use Messenger Service at work to tell end users that I need to install patches, and to please call me when they are at their computer. The service doesn't allow two way conversations (unless you know the command line).
You can download programs that use this service, and even if the person DOES NOT have MSN Messenger, they will still get a pop up. Granted, they have to be exposed, or the firewall/router breached.
So, when you read the rest of these replies, remember that MSN and Messenger are two diferent things. You can't "Block" Messenger adds, or "Only allow friends" messages. mater of fact, there is NO gui for Messenger.
I think that if the company looks deaper, they will find that this guy wasn't using their IM service, but in fact was using a hole in the FW, and a service that is still active.
No, I don't think this company has seen the last of this exploit!
Later
Refrence (Score:5, Interesting)
Your quip was quite funny, but I think it might have been a cultural refrence, and not a typo. In old Warner-brothers cartoons, Bugs Bunny would say things like, 'What a iggit, what a maroon!' to insult people. I think the joke was that he didn't say 'idiot' and 'moron', but 'iggit' and 'maroon', words that only an iggit maroon would mispronounce. Either that, or I'm an iggit maroon who is missing the real joke. I'd lay odds at fifty-fifty either way.
(Dry, boring joke analysis over, you can wake up now.)
Those who are immoral promote immoral! (Score:1, Interesting)
Pornography and mortgage services: two of the biggest scams on the Internet today. They don't make money off of the front end (i.e. people buying their services); no, they make money off of the back end (i.e. people scammed for recurring credit card charges or balloon payments on their loans). Does it surprise anyone that someone promoting these services would resort to blackmail to promote them?
Look, it isn't time to put away the people who promote these things; it is time to put away the root cause of this bullshit in the first place!