Government Moves Against Major Spammer

The FTC won a court order yesterday halting the operations of one of the largest spammers on the planet.  The action was coordinated with New Zealand authorities who moved against a citizen of that country living in Australia.  The New York Times reports some of the scope of the operation, a botnet of some 35,000 computers with the potential to send 10 billion e-mail messages per day.  The messages hawked diet and sexual enhancement pills sourced from India.  The diet pills didn't work and the sexual enhancement pills contained the active ingredient in Viagra, both containing potential health hazards to users.  The spam netted as much as $400,000 in some months.  Criminal charges are still pending in the case.

The action by the FTC is welcome, but if it reduces the amount of spam in my mailbox, I haven't noticed it yet.  The New York Times article is here, and the FTC press release with links to court documents is here.  [MG]