The better the spam, the more time in the can

HIGH PROFITS for spammers could lead to them spending more time behind bars, if a Denver federal judge's first use of a provision in the US CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 catches on elsewhere.

Min Kim, 24, ran a successful spam email operation that netted him $250,000 in profits, according to his own records.

After he was caught and convicted, his attorney argued at sentencing that the prosecution couldn't prove the damages he caused because affected ISPs would had to have spent more money to fight spam anyway.

But Denver US District Judge Lewis Babcock was not convinced. "Mr. Kim is sophisticated with regard to the economic gain to himself through spamming," he said. "Sophisticated to the extent that when he became blacklisted, he went to a proxy server, DarkMailer, and rendered his messages anonymous. Why? So as to beat the ISPs' protective measures." He said that showed Kim knew he was costing the ISPs more money to fight his continued spamming operation.

Although the extent of ISPs financial damages couldn't be determined, Judge Babcock applied a provision in the CAN-SPAM Act that allows a spammer's profits to be weighed at sentencing in cases where actual financial damages cannot be calculated.

Kim's significant spamming profits qualified him for a prison sentence 25 per cent longer than the 24 to 30 months he would have received otherwise.

Since Kim was a first-time offender, Judge Babcock sentenced him to serve 30 months in federal prison, at the low end of the 30 to 37 months in the enhanced sentencing range.

Kim must report to prison by January 7. µ

L'INQ
NetworkWorld