| Will other spammers take heed? Don't count on | | | | 92 million addresses that an AOL software |
| it.Jeremy Jaynes was on top of the world. By | | | | engineer has been charged with stealing.When |
| age 28, he owned a million-dollar home, a | | | | Jaynes' operation was raided, investigators |
| high-class restaurant, a chain of gyms and | | | | found that the house from which he ran his |
| countless other toys. Yet those were only the | | | | operation was wired with 16 T-1 lines (a |
| spoils of his main line of business, which | | | | large office building can get by on a single |
| was swindling innocent people out of their | | | | T-1 line for all its users). Investigators |
| money through email scams. From an unassuming | | | | also entered into evidence to-do lists |
| house serving as his company's headquarters | | | | handwritten by Jaynes. Take a look at Jeremy |
| in Raleigh, NC, Jaynes sent an estimated ten | | | | Jayne's meticulously detailed lists at:* |
| million messages a day pitching products most | | | | |
| recipients didn't want, amassing an estimated | | | | * |
| $24 million fortune in the process. Using | | | | |
| aliases such as Jeremy James and Gaven | | | | * Work if You Can Get (Away With) ItThe |
| Stubberfield, Jaynes spammed his way up to | | | | economics of spamming makes Jaynes' decision |
| the #8 position on Spamhaus' Register Of | | | | to build a career of it understandable, |
| Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) and grossed as | | | | though not noble. Spammers work on the law of |
| much as $750,000 a month, allowing him to | | | | averages, which would seem like an odd |
| live like a king.However, Jaynes ran head-on | | | | strategy considering that the average |
| into an information superhighway road block | | | | response rate for a spam message is just |
| when a Virginia judge sentenced him to nine | | | | one-tenth of one percent. However, once you |
| years in prison for his November 2004 | | | | do the math even this miniscule response rate |
| conviction on felony charges of using false | | | | can make one very wealthy very quickly. If a |
| IP addresses to send mass email | | | | spammer sends one million messages pushing a |
| advertisements (some just call it spamming). | | | | product width a $40 profit, a response rate |
| The conviction was a landmark decision, as | | | | of 0.1 percent works out to 1000 customers, |
| Jaynes became the first person in the United | | | | or $40,000 per million messages sent. Since |
| States convicted of felony spam charges. | | | | each message costs only fractions of a penny |
| Though his operation was based in North | | | | to send, and Jaynes was sending literally |
| Carolina, Jaynes was tried in Virginia | | | | billions of messages a year, it's easy to see |
| because it is home to a large number of the | | | | how he pulled in $400,000 to $750,000 a |
| routers that control much of North America's | | | | month, while spending perhaps $50,000 on |
| Internet traffic (it's also the home of AOL | | | | bandwidth and other overhead.The fact that |
| and a government building or two).He | | | | spamming can be such a profitable undertaking |
| should've Used the Privacy SoftwareDuring the | | | | means that the profession is not likely to go |
| trial, prosecutors focused on three of | | | | anywhere in the near future. Spammers have |
| Jaynes' most egregious scams: software that | | | | financial motivation to come up with |
| promised to protect users' private | | | | innovative ways to avoid detection, and they |
| information; a service for choosing penny | | | | have begun to join forces. While the landmark |
| stocks to invest in; and a work-from-home | | | | decision handed down in the Jaynes trial may |
| "FedEx refund processor" opportunity that | | | | serve as a deterrent to some would-be |
| promised $75-an-hour work but did little more | | | | spammers, it is unlikely that the threat of |
| than give buyers access to a website of | | | | prosecution will keep future spammers from |
| delinquent FedEx accounts. Sound familiar? | | | | refining their trade. For now and the |
| Anyone with an e-mail address has received | | | | foreseeable future, the answer still lies in |
| countless messages originating from Jaynes' | | | | technology, not law enforcement.Dr. Paul |
| operation. (If you're still waiting on your | | | | Judge is a noted scholar and entrepreneur. He |
| privacy software to show up, it's probably | | | | is Chief Technology Officer at CipherTrust, |
| safe to stop checking the mailbox.)Jaynes got | | | | the industry's largest provider of enterprise |
| lists of millions of email addresses through | | | | email security. The company's flagship |
| a stolen database of America Online | | | | product, IronMail provides a best of breed |
| customers. He also illegally obtained e-mail | | | | enterprise anti spam solution designed to |
| addresses of eBay users. While the | | | | stop spam, phishing attacks and other |
| prosecutors still don't know how Jaynes got | | | | email-based threats. Learn more by visiting |
| access to the lists, the Associated Press | | | | today. |
| reported that the AOL names matched a list of | | | | |