Fired AOL Engineer gets 15 Months 371
n3hat writes "A former America Online software engineer was sentenced to 15 months in prison for stealing 92 million screen names and e-mail addresses and selling them to spammers who sent out up to 7 billion unsolicited e-mail messages, according to this A.P. story in the Baltimore Sun."
In a related story... (Score:4, Funny)
I know, I know... probably a flamebait rating but come on, you know you giggled!
define irony (Score:5, Funny)
Hypothetical Prison Conversation (Score:5, Funny)
Prisoner #1: So what're you in for?
Prisoner #2: Aggravated assault. You?
Prisoner #1: Armed robbery. How 'bout you?
AOL Engineer: I stole 92 million screen names and e-mail addresses and sold them to spammers who sent out up to 7 billion unsolicited e-mail messages.
Prisoners #1 and 2 inch away from AOL Engineer at the lunch table
So... (Score:5, Funny)
a quote from Heavy Metal popped into my head (Score:4, Funny)
Indeed.
What's his cellmate's name and address? (Score:5, Funny)
All in the name of poetic justice.
Everyone All At Once Now... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:What's his cellmate's name and address? (Score:5, Funny)
It should be here any day now...
Maybe not... (Score:3, Funny)
He's NOT that cute.
Camp Cupcake (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What's his cellmate's name and address? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What else could you say? (Score:1, Funny)
Time for Master Card Ad: (Score:5, Funny)
Cost to have CompUSSR repair your PC from spyware: $150
The look on the spammer's face as he see "Bubba" get a penis enlargement spam: Priceless
There are some things money can't buy, for everything else there's KARMA!
He got 15 months? (Score:5, Funny)
Is Jason Smathers considered to be... (Score:3, Funny)
Take a look at his photo so you'll know what I mean....
You've got male! (Score:1, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Read TFA (Score:2, Funny)
Who picks the nitwits?
Welcome (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Further details / This looks strangely familiar (Score:2, Funny)
I think they'd understand it very well (Score:5, Funny)
The public at large may not be experts in some of the more sophisticated crimes, nor in the finer points of intellectual property (e.g., as applied to those database records), but stuff like spam is something you don't need a Ph.D. in CS to understand. If someone doesn't understand, someone else will explain it to them.
Spammer: "I sold 92 million AOL email addresses to spammers."
Bubba: "Uh, wot's a spammer"
Billy Joe: "Bubba, you know those 'enlarge your penis' and 'horny teens waiting for you' messages you told me your little daughter was getting on AOL? This guy told them where to send those."
Which way it goes from there, I wouldn't know. But from there Bubba understands exactly what the cybercrime was.
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
1 in 100? I have to think the return on those discs is way lower than 1 in 100. I'd put it at more like 5,000 discs in return for a single year-long contract.
*Maybe* 1 in 100 will put the disc in the drive, perhaps 1 in 500 will begin the trial. However, once the 10 million hours of free* Internet access expire, I expect very few will pony up the $21.95 or whatever the hell they're charging for "special" Internet today.
*10 million hours of free slower-than-hell dialup access expire 10 days after activation. Social security number, date of birth, full name, and valid credit card with a minimum of $20,000 credit limit required. AOL reserves the right to do whatever the hell we want, anytime, anywhere. By agreeing to these terms, you acknowledge you are a complete dumbass.
Re:Jason Smathers (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In a related story... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In a related story... (Score:3, Funny)
The global growth rate is about 140 ppm (people per minute). Let's consider that anyone with an IQ of <100 will want or need training weels, that means a growth of at least 70 ppm who need/want training wheels.
If we look at the birth rate instead, which is about 270 ppm, we get a growth figure of 135 ppm who need/want training wheels. If we now guesstimate that 40% of these newborns are persons who will eventually clog up the helpdesk more than usual, we get a figure ot 54ppm.
In other words: One sucker born every second!
I estimate that in a few decades, half of all jobs in the service sector will be helpdesk-related.
Re:Why jail? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Lucky guy (Score:3, Funny)
I baked... (Score:2, Funny)
Who thinks this guy should only eat apple crumb cake for the next 15 months, say aye!
Re:In a related story... (Score:3, Funny)