It is not often that computer users cheer a victory for Microsoft, the monolithic software firm whose uncompromising success has made founder Bill Gates the world’s richest man.
But many will have shared his satisfaction on Wednesday after the computer giant claimed a victory in the fight against unsolicited e-mails when a man dubbed the ”Spam King” agreed to pay the company $7-million.
Scott Richter and his Colorado-based company OptInRealBig.com are alleged to have been one of the world’s biggest spammers, sending a staggering 38-billion messages a year to the e-mail inboxes of unwitting recipients, pushing everything from mortgages to pornography websites. Microsoft and the New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, sued Richter for $18-million in 2003, accusing him of violating state and federal laws, after ”spam traps” set by the software company netted about 8 000 messages containing 40 000 fraudulent statements.
As part of the settlement of the latest action, Richter denied the allegations but agreed to comply with federal and state laws. He also pledged not to send spam to anyone who has not confirmed a willingness to receive it, and agreed to let authorities monitor his business for three years. Microsoft is donating $1-million of the settlement to a New York programme to provide computer equipment to community centres, and will spend $5-million more on anti-spam efforts.
”People engage in spam to make money,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chief counsel, told the Associated Press. ”We have now proven that we can take one of the most profitable spammers in the world and separate him from his money. And I think that sends a powerful message to other people who might be tempted to engage in illegal spam.”
The messages sent by Richter’s company will be familiar to anybody who has ever had an e-mail address.
According to the Microsoft lawsuit the subject lines included: ”fwd: we have to talk”, ”make sure you do this” and ”re: your home loan”. They also contained forged sender names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender addresses and hijacked computers in 35 countries to send spam.
The action against the Spam King (a title he gave himself two years ago and has been trying to live down ever since) illustrates how far the biggest internet and software providers are willing to go to combat spammers. Microsoft has filed more than 135 anti-spam lawsuits worldwide in recent years, about 100 of them in the US, and the company claims to have won $838-million in judgements against the underground industry.
But despite legislation aimed at undermining spammers, the US remains the world’s worst culprit for unsolicited e-mail, which at least one study says accounts for as much as 72% of all e-mail traffic in America. It outstrips the likes of China, South Korea and Russia — all notorious havens for illegal internet activity — and the anti-spam campaigner Spamhaus says that seven of the world’s top 10 offenders are based in the US.
The US courts have been trying to crack down on spammers, with mixed success. One of the most high-profile victories to date came last year, when two prolific American fraudsters were caught and tried. Jeremy Jaynes and his sister, Jessica DeGroot, were caught running a fraudulent spam scam that tricked thousands out of their money, and Jaynes was eventually jailed for nine years.
For some the danger of being prosecuted for sending unsolicited e-mail is outweighed by the potential rewards — the largest spammers charge clients up to $50 000 a month to e-mail advertisements
Spammers either find addresses through a process of trial and error, or by purchasing lists that have been harvested from around the internet. They will often use viruses to turn unprotected computers around the world into their drones, allowing them to use these ”zombies” to send millions of spam e-mails every second.
They then reap the profits in a number of ways, including fraud, demands for cash, sale of overpriced products or trying to gain access to bank details. And since e-mail technology means the cost of sending millions of messages is almost zero, they are able to make large amounts of profit. Some experts say Richter is likely to see a $7-million settlement as something of an escape.
”I’m not so sure that a $7-million victory for Microsoft even registers on the anti-spam Richter scale, or that this win means noticeably less spam for consumers,” said Gregg Mastoras, senior analyst with the network security firm Sophos.
”One spammer says he’ll no longer be sending spam; meanwhile, there are plenty of other criminals and opportunists waiting to take his place.”
One of the ways the authorities and computer giants are trying to crack down on spammers is to seize some of their possessions, a fate now faced by those caught drug running and dealing.
AOL, the world’s largest internet service provider, was on Wednesday due launch a competition on its website to give away $20 000 in gold bars, a 2003 Hummer H2 and $75 000 in cash it seized from a spammer as part of a legal settlement last year. ”We think it’s justice,” Curtis Lu, the AOL deputy general counsel, told USA Today. ”We’re taking the ill-gotten bounty these spammers have earned off the backs of our customers and handing it back to customers.” – Guardian Unlimited Â