Fired AOL Engineer gets 15 Months

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."

Further details / This looks strangely familiar

[securitas]

AOL E-mail Data Thief Gets 15 Months in Prison

AP's Larry Neumeister reports that the AOL employee who sold 92 million stolen e-mail addresses and screen names to spammers has been sentenced to one year and three months in prison [businessweek.com]. Jason Smathers sold the list to spammers for $28,000, who then proceeded to send as many as 7 billion spam messages. The prosecutor in the case estimated 'AOL suffered a loss of 10 cents for every 1,000 spam e-mails sent to subscribers.' The judge suggested that Smathers pay $84,000 in restitution [cnn.com] but will decide on the final figure after AOL files details of financial losses due to increased staff, hardware and software costs. An interesting note: Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in December that he canceled his AOL subscription because he received too much spam.

2005-08-17 21:42:32 AOL E-mail Data Thief Gets 15 Months in Prison (Index,Spam) (rejected)

Re:The truth of the matter is...

[Paradise Pete]

I mean seriously, you expect me to believe that AOL has 92 million paying customers?

Not if you'd RTFA, and noticed where it said "The stolen list of 92 million AOL addresses included multiple addresses used by each of AOL's estimated 30 million customers."

MOD PARENT DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you think the Baltimore Sun will get slashdotted?

Conspiracy

[jfengel]

The article just says "conspiracy", which is pretty vague. I suspect that it means "conspiracy to commit fraud", 18 USC 371, punishable by up to 5 years.

Dictionary attacks are smarter than that

[antispam_ben]

They take common names and add three-digit or more extensions just as many acutal AOL users select their names. Start with [e-mail] (would anyone used ann000?) through ann999, bill001 thru bill999, to walt001 through walt999, and you can get a bunch of names there. Don't even bother with the bounces, have reply-to point to (poor) ann001. This is not efficient, probably most will bounce, but spammers don't care, especially when the sending bandwidth being abused is some foreign open server.

:-) I hope you too get assraped :~P

[Vicsun]

I've been sentenced for a D.U.I. offense. My 3rd one. When I first came to prison, I had no idea what to expect. Certainly none of this. I'm a tall white male, who unfortunately has a small amount of feminine characteristics. And very shy. These characteristics have got me raped so many times I have no more feelings physically. I have been raped by up to 5 black men and two white men at a time. I've had knifes at my head and throat. I had fought and been beat so hard that I didn't ever think I'd see straight again. One time when I refused to enter a cell, I was brutally attacked by staff and taken to segragation though I had only wanted to prevent the same and worse by not locking up with my cell mate. There is no supervision after lockdown. I was given a conduct report. I explained to the hearing officer what the issue was. He told me that off the record, He suggests I find a man I would/could willingly have sex with to prevent these things from happening. I've requested protective custody only to be denied. It is not available here. He also said there was no where to run to, and it would be best for me to accept things . . . . I probably have AIDS now. I have great difficulty raising food to my mouth from shaking after nightmares or thinking to hard on all this . . . . I've laid down without physical fight to be sodomized. To prevent so much damage in struggles, ripping and tearing. Though in not fighting, it caused my heart and spirit to be raped as well. Something I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself for.
-A letter to Human Rights Watch

Prison rape is funny again, guys!

For those that don't listen to Arlo Guthrie...

[google]

... this is in reference to Alice's Restaurant.

Re:Read TFA

[Alomex]

Wrong. Mitnick originally pleaded guilty and was sentenced accordingly to "a year in a low-security prison and three years of probation" [CNN]. Furthermore, the judge ordered that that he serve his sentence in a halfway house. He violated the terms of his probation and became a fugitive. The second time he was caught he had to continue serving the original sentence, hence no rush to go to trial with the second set of charges. Eventually Mitnick pleaded guilty to the second set of charges. The judge in this case did not have much choice in the length of the sentence since Mitnick was now a repeat offender and fell under the federal sentencing guidelines for those.

Mitnick was charged for crimes spanning 15 years and four different trials starting in the early eighties and finishing in the late 90s. That he generates so much undeserved sympathy has to be the ultimate meme.

Re:Please don't call him an "engineer"

[callipygian-showsyst]

Are you a P.E.? If not, you aren't legally a "real engineer" in many places.

Yes I am.

And yet, one still walks free

[WebGangsta]

So they got one AOL employee in jail for stealing screen names.

But they didn't get Heather Robinson [lowculture.com], the former AOL staffer [go.com] who stole celebrities' screen names [wired.com] and worked those "newly found contacts" into various movie deals.

One is a criminal; the other is an "up and coming screenwriter". Obviously there is no consistency in how AOL deals with employee violations.