14 DAY TRIAL // Here is an intriguing piece of news that can make one wonder about fairness in life. I'm just going to give you the facts and you can decide for yourselves whether things are just or not. One AOL employee sold 92 million customers' screen names to a Sean Dunaway. The buyer then sold the list to spammers and also used it to promote an Internet gambling operation, as the Orlando Sentinel informs.
The employee, by the name of Jason Smathers is 25 years old and he has been sentenced to a year and three months behind bars. He could have gotten a worse sentence, but he showed that he was sorry and he also cooperated. However, what he knew was not enough to lead to more criminal cases. That being said, the actual spammers that have sent out more than 7 billion unwanted messages, are still at large. So, if you are reading this and don't quite get it, let me say it in simpler terms - what they did is like jailing the illegal weapon dealer while leaving the killers at large. However it could have been worse for the America Online ex-employee, as the judge was recommended to ban him from ever working as a software engineer ever again, but luckily for the culprit, the judge did not take the recommendation into consideration.
Dunaway has not yet been convicted as charges are still pending against him, but note that he is accused of conspiracy and might get a heavier sentence.
This trial and sentence are mainly a consequence of the CAN-SPAM act that is meant to thwart criminal activities via spam. The FBI lauded this law some time ago and as I see, more and more people are nabbed, under violation of this law. It's a great thing that the Web is not a place without laws, it's just a pity that they're not better enforced.