William Bailey, Jr, 46 years old, of Charlotte, North Carolina faces approximately 55 years behind bars after standing accused of stealing membership database held at the American College of Physicians (ACP) in Philadelphia. Bailey is charged with 11 counts of computer intrusion after getting unauthorized access to the ACP database from where he stole data related to in excess of 80,000 members. In addition, Bailey may also have to pay $2,750,000 in fines.

Bailey was running the dr-411.com website which sold professional organization member databases to people involved in marketing to physicians, dentists, lawyers, real estate agents and other professionals, making them targets for spam campaigns. Bailey was delivering a heterogeneous offer comprising: Complete Physicians Database - 726,547 for $1,699, Physicians Email Database- 20,350 emails for $399 and Physicians Fax Database - 374,105 fax numbers for $799.

"Criminal spammers are supported by the unethical email list providers who have sprung up like mushrooms around them. Spammers need long lists of qualified email addresses to send their unwanted marketing messages to, and so are always on the lookout for unscrupulous agencies who may assist them," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Those people who are prepared to work with spammers carry the stench of spam around with them, and if found guilty should be punished appropriately. The public demands firm action from the authorities to investigate cases like this."