International Spam Ring Shut Down 243
smooth wombat writes "An international spam ring with ties to Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and the US is in the process of being shut down. Finances of members in the US are being frozen using the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 while the FBI is pursuing criminal charges. The group sent spam advertising male enhancement herbs and other items using a botnet estimated at 35,000 computers, and able to send 10 billion emails per day. The Federal Trade Commission monitored the group's finances and found that they had cleared $400,000 in Visa charges in one month alone."
Fines for those in NZ (Score:5, Informative)
$200,000 fines are being aimed at three of the offenders here in New Zealand:
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/8D970CCB86C6155ACC2574E200636699
Before we get too excited... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Of Spammy Ring... (Score:4, Informative)
But the real point is to escape briefly the election season.
Re:Jeez you people... (Score:2, Informative)
People will always be stupid/desperate/gullible. The same "demand side" argument could be made for drugs/copyright violation (wow, what a can of worms). If you want to fight it, you have to do it as a whole: cut off both the supply and demand sides, and saying "if only they would just stop" is missing half the point.
The only difference between the aforementioned 3 issues is zeal of enforcement, and you should direct your resources to those who would ratchet up enforcement or encourage leniency in regards to these issues. IE: A significant majority of people don't want spam and choose to stamp it out (though right to send it might be a point of contention); our resources are bent to vilify enforcement and glorify drug use in pop culture, while simultaneously giving millions per year to enforcement agencies (talk about a schizophrenic country); similarly, a copyright czar was recently authorized as people see violation as a problem (not a very big one, and not as big as spam since it has taken THIS long to enact.
By swaying the opinion of those around you through persuasive talking/blogging/civil disobedience (see XKCD's latest entitled "Steal This Comic", you can change the nature of the fight from a purely demand side (arresting drug users or allowing song downloaders to be sued) to an effective approach.
Re:Fines for those in NZ (Score:3, Informative)
When I clicked on "buy this" from a penis enlargement spam the other day (just out of curiosity), the price was $200+. So thats only 2,000 customers.
Re:Jeez you people... (Score:5, Informative)
why would a company pay spammers to send out emails if it doesn't make them money?
You're forgetting Rule #1: spammers lie.
The company believes that the spammer has been very successful in the past with their double-opt-in targeted marketing campaigns and the spammer's other clients have been very satisfied, because that's what the spammer tells them. They don't find out the truth until after the spammer has been paid.
Re:Jeez you people... (Score:2, Informative)
Sadly spammers are like the Hydra (Score:3, Informative)
Like all security problems meatware is the biggest fail point. People are just plain dumb a lot of the time, especially when they think they can get rich quick or get a bigger penis or set of breasts.
Re:Jeez you people... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Myanmar-Shave (Score:4, Informative)
Only if you are a military junta. Most of the rest of the world still calls it Burma.
Re:Jeez you people... (Score:3, Informative)
Um.. there's nothing wrong with buying a house that's 3x your yearly income.
The main problem is using the house itself as collatoral for the loan. It makes houses appear to be worth more, which then allows bigger loans to be secured, and so on...until the whole thing comes tumbling back down.
But you should be able to pay off a mortgage of 3x your current yearly income in twenty or thirty years, with nothing more than work, sweat, tears, and work.
New York Times Manual of Style says... (Score:4, Informative)
Myanmar is the preferred usage, Burmese is acceptable, and to remind readers it was once called Burma when appropriate.
I will refrain from the obvious Times-bashing jokes.
See also: http://www.slate.com/id/2191002/ [slate.com]