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| Howard Carmack will spend a minimum of 3.5 years
in prison for the millions of spam messages he sent |
Howard Carmack, also known as the "Buffalo Spammer", will spend
a minimum of 3.5 years in prison for 14 counts of identity theft
and forgery.
The New York state attorney-general's office convinced a court
in April that Carmack had sent out 825 million spam messages using
stolen identities and forged email addresses. Carmack has now been
sentenced to between 3.5 and 7 years in prison under New York's
identity theft statute.
According to Brad Maione, a spokesman for Attorney-General Eliot
Spitzer, Carmack could leave prison in 3.5 years for good
behaviour.
Carmack is said to have operated 343 email accounts under a
variety of false names from early 2002 to May 2003, sending
millions of spam messages about get-rich-quick schemes and "herbal
stimulants".
"Hopefully this sentence will send a strong message to other
spammers, and they will reconsider whether launching a tidalwave of
unsolicited junk mail is really worth it," said Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Unfortunately whenever
one spammer stops another seems to take their place. Since Carmack
was arrested we have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of spam
received by computer users worldwide."
Atlanta-based ISP Earthlink won a $16.4 million judgement
against Carmack last year, and assisted the authorities in
prosecuting the spammer.
Sophos recommends companies protect
themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend
businesses from the threats of both spam and viruses.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.