Well, hooray! Spamming isn’t the kind of entrepreneurial initiative we welcome in Kiwis:
A little bit of spam.
The New Zealand “mastermind” behind an international spam network has been ordered to pay $US15.15 million ($NZ21.33 million) by a US federal judge.
Lance Atkinson, originally from Christchurch but now living in Queensland, was identified by anti-spam organisation Spamhaus as the ringleader of the world’s largest spam gang, marketing male enhancement pills, prescription drugs and weight-loss pills, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says. …
Smith is awaiting sentencing and could face up to five years in prison.
[Via : NZ mastermind behind international spam network fined $21 million | TECHNOLOGY News.]
I doubt it’ll even slightly slow other spammers though. For sure, the flood of garbage in my email continues unabated.
What’s galling though is the pathetic fine this guy collected from his New Zealand court appearance:
Atkinson pleaded guilty in the High Court in Christchurch last year to his role in the network and was fined $100,000.
That’s a huge difference: $100,000 in New Zealand and $21 million in the US.
They should ban him from the Internet, or from even using a computer too.
Still, if the system can put him and his cronies out of business, the world will be a better place.