Canadian Spammer Fined Over $1 Billion 379
innocent_white_lamb writes "A man has been fined ONE BEELYUN DOLLARS (yes, really) for sending 4,366,386 spam messages that were posted on Facebook. He was fined $100 for each message, and including punitive damages he now owes $1,068,928,721.46. A ruling by a US District Court judge in San Jose, California has now been upheld by the Quebec Superior Court (the defendant lives in Montreal)."
Re:He's not very worried (Score:2, Informative)
Hah, jokes on me. Repeated meme blindness.
Re:How does this work? (Score:4, Informative)
Have a look at the concept called "comity".
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:5, Informative)
In this case, the spammer went with the, no lawyer defence and didn't even bother to turn up. Big catch with that is "Guerbuez fooled its users into providing him with their user names and passwords" and that is interfering with a computer network a criminal offence. The evidence for which has now been established in a civil court and the spammer has show complete contempt for that court not only be freely admitting his guilt but also by mocking the fine by saying he will declare bankrupt and keep all the criminal proceeds from that crime.
This then forces US law to intervene and seek criminal prosecution for interfering with a computer network, via obtaining user name and passwords under false pretences and using that to fraudulently misrepresent the products he was advertising as being recommended by friends of the victims and also interfering with those 'friends' computer network.
You have the right to remain silent, remember those words when you want to get rich quick by breaking the law and don't make a ass out of yourself by publicly bragging about and defending your criminal activities.
Re:Now thats justice for you, American style!! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:3, Informative)
Declaring bankruptcy doesn't do a single thing to shield you when there are criminal charges involved.
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Let's see... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:3, Informative)
249,428,104,576, or 249.4 billion messages will surpass the world GDP.
$61,060,000,000,000 GDP of world [google.com] ÷ $244.80 per message. [slashdot.org] = 249,428,104,576 messages. Should a spammer send this many junk messages, and get caught, then by legal precedent he will owe the equivalent of the world GDP. I wonder if that's more than the number of AOL disks that have been mailed...
Re:um (Score:4, Informative)
It's pretty fucking simple this guys... Don't mess it up.
A US court ruling has no power to get anything from the guy as long as he and all his possessions are outside of the US. Before anything happens in Canada a Canadian court needs to look at the case and see if it agrees on the ruling.
From the summary:
A ruling by by a US District Court judge in San Jose, California has now been upheld by the Quebec Superior Court
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:If He Files Bankruptcy ... (Score:3, Informative)
Dunno about Canada, but a bit of sniffing around turned up this: US Federal law says that they can only take up to 25% of your paycheck [bcsalliance.com], or exempts up to 30x the federal minimum wage per week, whichever is bigger (though according to that site, child support, alimony and such can be taken in bigger amounts). They could come after a goodly chunk of what you own, though again, with a healthy dose of exemptions.
Basically, I figure that they'd leave you with enough stuff to live simply, and not much else.
OTOH, not so sure ab't wanting to get locked up in PMTIA prison just to avoid paying it or to make some sort of point... it would be hella easier on one's anus to just move to Mexico or Central/South America, no?
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:3, Informative)
Since the guy's canadian and lives in canada.. And this is a US court ruling..
He went with the "I don't live in that country and they can fuck off" defence...
Re:who knew? (Score:2, Informative)
"Ehpardonez moi, allez vous un bouillon dolare? Non? Moi aussi."
"Pardon me, have you soup dollars? No? Me Australian."
Have I got that right?
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:2, Informative)
What about the 1.25 billion Intel paid to AMD? I don't recall that getting reduced on appeal. AMD even posted a profit due to the settlement.
http://www.intelsinsides.com/page/com_6.html
Re:I don't feel sorry, but... (Score:4, Informative)
But that's no where near as exciting as talking out of your arse against "teh evil corporation". Just as well you posted AC because you are just that!
Re:who knew? (Score:2, Informative)
Nope. You can't get legal fines discharged, nor secured loans, like student loans. I've looked into it in the past, bankruptcy in Canada isn't the holy grail people think it is. At least thats whats been explained to me in the past.