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I just read an article on "spam kings"--people who've been caught sending tons of spam, and I don't understand something: how do they make money by doing this?
I can understand FTC fined him more than $5 million for infecting computers with spyware, then selling users a $30 program to remove it. , and how/why it's against the law to do what one guy did--offer free ring tones and then get money from customers. But I'm not sure why spamming seems to be against the law in many states, or again, how is it that people make money doing this? I always just assumed they had some kind of freakish mind-set like vandals.
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Not all spamming is illegal, but it is almost always unethical. These people tend to be sociopathic. They honestly don't care what harm they do; seriously, it's not just that they are oblivious to it - they know what they are doing is unethical, but they have no ethics.
Let's look at it. They buy an email account which is cheap or free. They acquire a list of addresses which can cost something, but which can be created on one's own with a staggeringly trivial amount of skill programming. They produce bulk emails which are usually mailed out for free. They send email to 10 million users which is costs them no more than sending a msg to an individual. If even one of those 10 million buys viagra or phone sex or tooth whitener or whatever it is, this fellow has made money for his client.
The most important thing any of us can do is NEVER - not even one time - should we EVER buy anything through these vermin. It's NEVER a good idea to trust them. EVER. The next step is to avoid ever opening their emails. This is not always easy, because the slimeballs KNOW that most people don't want to read their crap and will use subject titles to trick you into reading them, "The money I owe you" or "Regarding the conversation we had last week" or something like that.
The next thing to do is to complain - to your sys admin, to ISP they're spamming from. Google and MS frown on sending spam from their accounts.
Finally, when the time comes, tell your congressperson that corporal punishment is the only thing these guys will ever understand. We don't fine some tiny portion of the money they made stealing other people's time and money. We don't give them wimpy sentences that will get reduced to a few months.
Step one. ALL of their assets get seized - just as if they were drug dealers.
Step two. Bring back flogging. Every single one of them, if found guilty, gets a serious, daily flogging, throughout their long, hellish sentence.
Step three. When they complete their sentences, they get ankle bracelets and mandatory lifetime probation. They are no longer permitted to use computers; failure to comply even once results in a repetition of their last prison sentence.
I also strongly recommend handling certain other sociopathic lowlifes in the same way: certain realtors, insurance scammers, corporate execs, etc.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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a poster on the MacFixit forums has investigated and written a lot about the spam issue and malware, etc., focusing especially on the Russian Business Network. you can read more about it on his website: http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.htmland a bit of $ info: Millionaire?oy.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Mercy, FF, I didn't know you were so namby-pamby on the subject.
But, oh--the spammers can be more or less on commission from companies, it sounds like? So it's businesses who seek out spammers?
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Joined: Feb 2008
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...it's not just that they are oblivious to it - they know what they are doing is unethical, but they have no ethics. huh? If they have no ethics they don't know it's unethical do they?  An earthworm doesn't know it's blind. ...tell your congressperson that corporal punishment is the only thing these guys will ever understand. Are you saying that spam kings deserve span-kings? 
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Joined: Jan 2002
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"huh? If they have no ethics they don't know it's unethical do they? "
I do not know how to express these ideas in ways that are formally correct. I usually use words in ways that are consistent with the usages I have heard, read and inferred.
There are children who have never heard of the word ethics, but whose every word and action overflows with affection and consideration for their fellow humans. Ethics is so ingrained in them that they perhaps cannot even imagine the existence of individuals in whom they are absent. OTOH, there are people who can tell you, for example, the known physics of shaped charges, but do not know what it feels like to get an arm blown off.
Spammers know about ethics. They know the term. They 'get' the idea. They know that they cause harm. They do not care. You, me, everyone on this forum - we are all insects, we are less than insects. We are - none of us - any different than inanimate objects that exist for the potential profit of these odious individuals.
My previous comments were not meant as hyperbole. Yes. I believe they should receive spankings, but I believe we should consult with experts at school of americas or russian gulags before administering them. A person can get accustomed to dang near anything - and the very last thing we should want is for a spammer to become inured to the cane. With the help of these consultants we can insure that that every whack counts.
I also think maybe having a site where videos of their daily canings can be viewed is important to have. Also, we might consider corruption charges against every congressman in office for the past 20 or 30 years. Here's why:
Most spam is PERFECTLY LEGAL! And yet ... if I were to return to the favor to these cretins, *I* were to send them copious amounts of unwanted garbage in return, *I* would be punished. The situation is analogous to the situation with telemarketers. They can harass with impunity, but our harassing them is illegal. Instead, phone companies provide telemarketers with special deals! If we lived in a sane society, all this crap would be illegal and punishment for violation would be sure, swift, and severe.
Last edited by TheFallibleFiend; 10/30/08 03:14 PM.
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Joined: Feb 2008
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Wow, glad I'm not living in Falliblefiendopia! Sounds a bit like Cromwellian England or Saudi Arabia! But I do share your frustration at these moral cretins! They do seem to have no empathy with their victims, you're right about that! But whether it is truly pathological or for some other reason who can tell? People like Amrozi and Muklas and the other Bali bombers who are about to be executed for their crimes also have no empathy with their victims, but that is because of psychological religious conditioning, not pathology. There could be other reasons that spammers don't care. Perhaps the anonymity of the process allows them never to be confronted with the misery they cause. Perhaps they themselves are pawns of organised crime with no choice. Perhaps they feel guilt but it is outweighed by greed. Or maybe they ARE psychopaths. Who knows?
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