Risk: Informational
James McCalla sent over 280 million unsolicited emails via ISP CIS Internet Services, advertising debt solutions and mortgage offers. Although CIS owner Robert Kramer is reported to believe that he won't see any of the money, this ruling certainly sends out the message that spamming is an unacceptable practice with serious consequences. James McCalla will now have to find another way to pass his time as he's also banned from using the Internet for 3 years.
Other spammers who have recently been named and shamed are Daniel Lin, James Lin, Mark Sadek and Christopher Chung. The group sent spam email messages through computers on large corporate networks, including Ford, Unisys and the US Army Information Centre. They were charged with violating the terms of the US legislation Can-Spam Act, introduced in January 2004, and are the first spammers to be charged under the Act.
Daniel Lin appeared in court on Tuesday 17th January and pleaded guilty to charges including fraud in connection with electronic mail. Lin accepted a plea bargain deal and when he is sentenced in May, faces up to 5 years in jail and a possible $250,000 fine.
The UK's anti-spam laws were introduced on 11th December 2003 and "the UK's worst spammer", Peter Francis-Macrae, was jailed for six years in November 2005 for offences including blackmail and death threats. Francis-Macrae made £1.6 million by selling .eu domain names that he was not entitled to sell, and once cornered by authorities, started threatening to slit the throats of trading standards officers investigating his scams. The sentencing judge, Nicholas Coleman, described him as "one of the most vindictive young men [he'd] ever seen".
On 25th January, the Home Office introduced a Police and Justice Bill to update UK law so that cyber criminals can be justly dealt with. The Computer Misuse Act (CMA) has been revised to suggest a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, and is thought to include denial of service attacks and targeted or random distribution of malicious code.
Let's hope that governments continue to treat spamming and other acts of cyber crime this seriously and work to deter, punish, and eventually stop, spammers.