NJ Spammer Gets Two Years Jail for AOL Spam Scam

Tech.Luver writes "A man from New Jersey has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for sending more than a million spam messages to AOL users. 'Todd Moeller was sentenced ... after he was caught making a deal with a government informant to send junk e-mails advertising a computer security program in return for 50 percent of the profits ... Moeller told the informant via instant messaging he could conceal the source of the e-mails through his access to 40 different servers and had profited $40,000 a month from other spam e-mail scams that promoted stocks, prosecutors said.'"

Re:Here's an opportunity

[Antique Geekmeister]

Unfortunately, it would interfere with the "Direct Marketing Association", a lobby that protects junk mail and junk email. They're thoroughly unwilling to allow any law that might interfere with their clients be passed, so the laws against spam are written only to address the most blatant forms of fraud and carefully avoid putting any responsibility on the network providers who provide them services.

So there remains no law against spam itself, anymore than there is a law against junk mail.

YRO Irony

[The_Mystic_For_Real]

The people begging for government intervention on spam need to tread carefully. The government has started with CANSPAM, which everyone knows is futile but might scare a few people off, but where is it going to go. Spam does not have a legal solution, it has a technical one. If you do not expect to receive unsolicited e-mail, drop it, and have your friends do the same. Obviously this is unfeasible for many but once the personal e-mails are secure the money will dry up.

Letting any message into your inbox and complaining when it is full of spam is like leaving a cup outside and complaining when it is full of rain.

Will the revenue from scam be taken away?

[blind biker]

"confiscated" or whatever is the correct English word. If not, this isn't really going to deterr future (and present) spammers - two years in jail, but after making US $40.000/month... I dunno, some would still risk it.

Re:Here's an opportunity

[gstoddart]

Unfortunately, it would interfere with the "Direct Marketing Association", a lobby that protects junk mail and junk email. They're thoroughly unwilling to allow any law that might interfere with their clients be passed

And, that, completely summarizes the problem with laws today.

The fact that a lobby group is "unwilling to allow any law that might interfere with their clients be passed" should be irrelavant. It shouldn't be up to them to decide.

Sadly though, I think you're 100% accurate -- lobby groups have far more sway over laws than citizens and lawmakers. And, not just on the topic of spam.

Ideally, they should be able to collectively tell the "Direct Marketing Association" to go pound sand. Personally, I don't see why the people sending junk mail should have any more right to send crap to me than the morons selling me C1Al1s or V:I:A:G:A:R:A or what have you. I don't want you rpaper fliers or your junk e-mail.

Cheers