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What sort of punishment does this man desirve?

Man described as a top spammer arrested

By GENE JOHNSON, AP Legal Affairs WriterThu May 31, 8:02 AM ET

A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised “zombie” computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

“He’s one of the top 10 spammers in the world,” said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company‘s Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. “He’s a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day.”

A federal grand jury last week returned a 35-count indictment against Soloway charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Soloway pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon to all charges after a judge determined that — even with four bank accounts seized by the government — he was sufficiently well off to pay for his own lawyer.

He has been living in a ritzy apartment and drives an expensive Mercedes convertible, said prosecutor Kathryn Warma. Prosecutors are seeking to have him forfeit $773,000 they say he made from his business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp.

A public defender who represented him for Wednesday’s hearing declined to comment.

Prosecutors say Soloway used computers infected with malicious code to send out millions of junk e-mails since 2003. The computers are called “zombies” because owners typically have no idea their machines have been infected.

He continued his activities even after Microsoft won a $7 million civil judgment against him in 2005 and the operator of a small Internet service provider in Oklahoma won a $10 million judgment, prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said Wednesday that the case is the first in the country in which federal prosecutors have used identity theft statutes to prosecute a spammer for taking over someone else’s Internet domain name. Soloway could face decades in prison, though prosecutors said they have not calculated what guideline sentencing range he might face.

The investigation began when the authorities began receiving hundreds of complaints about Soloway, who had been featured on a list of known spammers kept by The Spamhaus Project, an international anti-spam organization.

The Santa Barbara County, Calif., Department of Social Services said it was spending $1,000 a week to fight the spam it was receiving, and other businesses and individuals complained of having their reputations damaged when it appeared spam was originating from their computers.

“This is not just a nuisance. This is way beyond a nuisance,” Warma said.

Soloway used the networks of compromised computers to send out unsolicited bulk e-mails urging people to use his Internet marketing company to advertise their products, authorities said.

People who clicked on a link in the e-mail were directed to his Web site. There, Soloway advertised his ability to send out as many as 20 million e-mail advertisements over 15 days for $495, the indictment said.

The Spamhaus Project rejoiced at his arrest.

“Soloway has been a long-term nuisance on the Internet — both in terms of the spam he sent, and the people he duped to use his spam service,” organizers wrote on Spamhaus.org.

Soloway remained in federal detention pending a hearing Monday.

Help for Internet marketing (i.e. cheap ad placement, directories listings) ……?

Hi, Im an MBA student whom graduated with a BSc in biotechnology. Im currently doing a volunteer project for a biotechnology company which is aimed at finding areas for cheap ad placement and links to the website. Can anyone give me advice or resources I can use for this project?

Book/internet marketing campaign. Viral Marketing?

i am looking for good reliable companies to launch a book internet campaign. I am also open to outsourcing outside of the us. So if anyone has some good leads for me . Please let me know. thanks.

Marketing a start-up clothing line on the net w/o the use of spam?

I have my own clothing line (Plastic Bride 9) and I have been doing very well marketing it locally but now that we are working on a web presence I am going to need an effective way to market to the right target base? Is there software that can help me market via internet besides mass spamming? We don’t want to be that kind of a company?
So far I’m already using myspace & we will have the homepage site with ordering capabilities launched in less than a month. I do not need places to sell. I’m more or less looking for ways to advertise.

Is the Vector marketing company really a scam? i was just “hired” by them?

when i type “Vector” in Google, a list immediately pops up and one of the first options to click on says “Vector scam.” Apparently many of the independent contractors who worked for them have claimed that the business tried to take advantage of them. the job involves making appointments with customers, and then when the customer comes to your office, you try to sell them a knife which they are interested in, and you show them demonstrations, etc. my bro said that both of his friends tried working for them and that they only sold one knife or something and that it is harder to sell a knife than they make you think when you are first hired. one of my friends also tried working for them and referred to them as a pyramid scheme.

and yet, there are videos of people on youtube claiming that Vector is not a scam. people have also posted things in other areas of the internet, proposing that Vector is not a scam and that they had a positive experience working with them. so it may be that this is the kind of company that you just have to know how to play your cards right (which includes learning to be persuasive and friendly to the customer).
also i start training this Thursday so i’m going to ask the manager about all of this stuff and see what he says.