Sometimes you just have to laugh, even when you really do not want to. I found myself having a little titter missus, which turned into something of a ROFL before morphing naturally into red-faced spitting feathers anger last night. The cause of the kerfuffle being the widespread media reporting of the massive victory for MySpace which had just won a $234 million lawsuit against the Spam King himself, Sanford Wallace along with his partner in crime Walter Rines.
MySpace has been quick to make much fuss about this being a record payout, about it being the biggest judgement in a CAN-SPAM Act ruling yet. Fair play, at face value there does seem cause for celebration. Anything that helps take down the spammer scum has got to be good news, right?
Wrong.
Mainly because this judgement will do no such thing, MySpace might just as well have been awarded a billion bucks, or even a gazillion for that matter: they will never see a penny of it. Sanford ’spamford’ Wallace already owes millions in fines to other folk and so ordering him to compensate MySpace to the tune of $100 in damages for each and every spam message that was sent to its members is pointless. More so when you consider that he went to ground ages ago and, to para-phrase Gordon Ramsey there is as much chance “of Anthony Worrell Thompson getting a Michelin star” as there is of him coughing up the cash.
Still, the fact that Judge Collins issued an injunction against Spamford and his cohort in crime to prevent them from participating in similar spamming activity in future will do the trick though…
The truth is that Spamford is no stranger to lawsuits and court, I can recall him being sued by AOL and CompuServe way back in the 90’s as well as more recently being on the receiving end of a $4 million ruling. Why on earth would any successful spammer shut up shop when the sheer scale of the money they can make is obvious to everyone? we are not talking hundreds or thousands of pounds here, not even hundreds of thousands, but millions.
No, the only way to stop spam and put the spammers out of business is for YOU to stop reading the stuff, stop buying the products advertised and stop clicking on the links within.
Permalink
May 14th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I find it amazing that everyone these days knows not to click on links in a strange email, but they’ll curiously click on the very same link in a poorly written MySpace wallpost about dodgy herbal remedies and cheap Viagra, just because it’s supposedly been sent by their mate Trev.
Surely we don’t need educating all over again just because the format’s changed?
May 14th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I find it amazing that even people who should know better still turn into link clicking morons at the drop of a hat: we caught you naked on video, click here to view it - click here to update your account - click here becuase this is an email and it says clcik here…
May 15th, 2008 at 9:00 am
First time I have posted to such things but as I currently have no unsolicited email to read I thought I would give it a go…
I think the problem is that curiosity gets the better of most people, compounded by the shear volume of SPAM interrupting our everyday lives. You only have to look at mainstream advertising to see how people are duped into buying thingamajig II because it is sooo much better than the thingamajig they are currently using – if you sow the seed often enough Joe Public just can’t help themselves.
Perhaps we should bombard people with anti-SPAM SPAM
Oh gotta go now - a pop up box has just told me I am the trillionth customer and that I have won a yo-yo, they just need my credit card security code, wahoo!… now where is my wallet.