Feds: Notorious Seattle spammer indicted, Soloway gets it! Options

[Merlyn]

Most of the regulars will know this guy!

Federal authorities are accusing a Seattle man of not only sending out millions of spam messages himself, but selling the software for others to do the same and stealing unique e-mail addresses and domain names to further his operation.

Complete story here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com:80/local/317795_soloway31.html

[rconner]

Most of the regulars will know this guy!

Yes, indeedy! Hopefully he'll get a long, Federally-financed retirement.

No doubt in court he will drag out his old card that he contributes bulk-mail services to charities, although this might not work as well in criminal court (if it ever did in civil court).

He should also be sure to inform the court of his prize winning efforts (which I document [on my website].

-- rick

[Farelf]

Heh,

If they put him away this time (and don't allow him computer access from the penitentiary) I guess SpamHaus will be able to recycle a platter or two (for those who haven't been there before, use the internal links within the lead item and also use the SH dropdown menu to explore the extent of the accumulated evidence/sightings/comments). Why did it take so long?

[added - the SpamHaus link: first time visitors may taken to another page and asked to agree to accept cookies (depending on the cookie policy set up for the browser). If accepting, it may be necessary to return to this page to pick up the link again. Well, there's clean, then there's squeeky clean. I think this cookie query is new to SpamHaus, I'm sure I've visited before with this browser, same policies, and not been queried].

This post has been edited by Farelf: May 30 2007, 08:09 PM

[rconner]

For those interested, PDFs of Soloway's indictment and pre-trial detention order are posted at http://www.mortgagespam.com/soloway/. 35 counts total, including mail fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, and the like.

I see there's a shipping bill indicating that Mr. Soloway shipped one of his famous CDs to one of my neighbors (not next door, but in the same small town).

-- rick

[axxx007]

I hope they lose the key after locking this guy in. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[moltar]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070531/ap_on_hi_te/spam_arrest

SEATTLE - 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.

It'd be truly interesting to see the decrease...

[epgeek]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070531/ap_on_hi_te/spam_arrest
It'd be truly interesting to see the decrease...

I have not received a single piece of spam since the arrest. Normally by this time I would have accumulated five to ten pieces of wonderful spam. This is the first drop off in spam that I have seen in 2 years despite my active participation in Spam Cop and other websites that fight spam.

[StevenUnderwood]

I have not received a single piece of spam since the arrest. Normally by this time I would have accumulated five to ten pieces of wonderful spam. This is the first drop off in spam that I have seen in 2 years despite my active participation in Spam Cop and other websites that fight spam.

Glad you are. My SpamCop account is still receiving the same numbers.

[Farelf]

...My SpamCop account is still receiving the same numbers.

Spam numbers hitting my home account shot up about a week ago, still up, maybe increasing. At work, it fell away a couple of days ago, hasn't bounced back ... yet (I have every confidence it will, spam abhors a vacuum).

[moltar]

I don't see any drop in the amount of spam. If anything there was an increase!

http://www.spamcop.net/spamgraph.shtml?spamstats

[rconner]

For whatever reason, I never got much of Soloway's spam as far as I can tell. On the other hand, if the Feds could find a way to drag Leo & Alex & the rest of the Yambo/BadCow people into court, I'd probably drop down to near zero.

Given the current state of play between Putin and the English-speaking world, I'm not holding my breath on this.

-- rick

[Farelf]

...Given the current state of play between Putin and the English-speaking world, I'm not holding my breath on this.

Heh, I don't think many of them actually live in Russia do they? Justice is a little variable there, rich men are a little too much of a target there, hard currency is a little scarce there - so I've heard. What has any of them to fear from the US justice system anyway? How many years and how much evidence to get Solway to the indictment stage? That's the cost of blind, impartial justice (worth paying in general IMO, mind you - the alternative only looks good when you're on the "right" side of it and, if rightness has nothing necessarily to do with innocence or guilt, I figure it could ruin one's day real quick).

[Farelf]

The general chat around the internet indicates "don't expect much change". An explanation of the incidental/co-incidental surges in spam numbers is presented at: There aren’t that many serious spammers any more which I saw referenced in a GRC newsgoup (by user Kevin A.)

[Telarin]

I don't know about the rest of you, but after a few days (probably took that long for all the zombie queues to clear out), I have noticed a very large decrease in spam received accross the board on all my accounts. Hopefully it will take a while before a new spammer steps up to fill the gap, the reprieve is nice.

[StevenUnderwood]

I don't know about the rest of you, but after a few days (probably took that long for all the zombie queues to clear out), I have noticed a very large decrease in spam received accross the board on all my accounts. Hopefully it will take a while before a new spammer steps up to fill the gap, the reprieve is nice.

Postini's public stats show no decrease yet. http://www.postini.com/stats/index.php

While my new company uses Postini, in my position, I do not yet have access to the specific stats for us like I did with my last position.

[Farelf]

...I have noticed a very large decrease in spam received accross the board on all my accounts.

I'm seeing exactly the same on my two spammed accounts, two totally different spam "streams" each has dropped to the extent I have been getting more ham than spam. Not such big numbers to start with, even so - almost unprecedented. Don't know what to make of it all, not apparently anything directly to do with Soloway sleepless in Seattle. I trust they'll be back. As observed elsewhere, total volumes are evidently unaffected.

[StevenUnderwood]

I'm seeing exactly the same on my two spammed accounts, two totally different spam "streams" each has dropped to the extent I have been getting more ham than spam. Not such big numbers to start with, even so - almost unprecedented. Don't know what to make of it all, not apparently anything directly to do with Soloway sleepless in Seattle. I trust they'll be back. As observed elsewhere, total volumes are evidently unaffected.

Maybe the Soloway issue has made all the spammers in the world realize what they were doing was wrong and they put down their keyboards


HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[Farelf]

Maybe the Soloway issue has made all the spammers in the world realize what they were doing was wrong and they put down their keyboards
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

Eeyup. The intimation that nigh on a decade of unrelenting and open spamming will inevitably throw them into the arms of a passel of lawyers dedicated to getting them back on the streets as soon as possible with no tort unturned in the quest to counterclaim, no appeal too improbable to reiterate the principle that liberty and the unimpeded pursuit of profit is the inalienable right of every taxpayer and no dollar so dirty it is not worth 1/13.6800 troy ounces of silver (live rate at 2007.06.07 02:35:03 UTC, YMMV). That would do the trick, fo' sure. What was I thinking? (more maniacal laughter).

[rconner]

What was I thinking? (more maniacal laughter).

I am reminded of all those Frankenstein movies -- you know, the old doctor gets killed by his creation or burned up in his castle, so he's gone, but -- wait a minit -- here comes his son back to the ancestral ruins, where he finds all the old notes and apparatus, and -- presto! -- another monster walks the earth.

I may be a pessimist, but I can't imagine that whatever resources, networks, personal connections, etc. someone like Soloway has managed to amass over the years will suddenly evaporate should he go to the Big House.

-- rick

[rooster]

Maybe the Soloway issue has made all the spammers in the world realize what they were doing was wrong and they put down their keyboards
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

.... that's a real 'knee-slapper' fer sher.

RAS was slated to have his hearing on Monday last. I've been doing the rounds of the usual sources for info as to how this went, but haven't seen anything. I'd be interested to know if his bail is still denied and if he is still in Federal detention.