Robert Soloway

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Robert Alan Soloway (* 1980 ) is an American entrepreneur who came to court in the USA for sending massive amounts of unsolicited and fraudulent advertising emails ( spam ) and was convicted in 2008. Soloway sent the largest wave of spam with the cover message of offering "protection" against spam. He used botnets (i.e. computers mostly owned by innocent citizens) and proxy servers for sending . Law enforcement officials called him the " spam king ".

Spam tactics

Soloway took control of third party computers in 2003 to send millions of spam emails. The dispatch took place primarily through his company. He changed the header data of the e-mails, so that the unsuspecting recipient looked as if the e-mails were coming from MSN or Hotmail senders. As a result, Microsoft , the owner of the two mail services, reported him in December 2003 and demanded payment of more than 7 million US dollars in damages. However, even an injunction did not prevent Soloway from his spam activities. Between June 2004 and April 2005 his company was responsible for spam campaigns on behalf of various website operators such as broadcastingtoday.biz or broadcastadvertise.org (all of which have since been closed). He also marketed a spam mailing program called Dark Mailer , which is characterized, among other things, by falsifying the sender addresses.

Arrest and verdict

In 2005 Microsoft had enforced the preliminary injunction of 7.8 million dollars against the spammer through a civil chamber, but the amount could never be recovered because Soloway concealed his accounts. After his arrest on March 30, 2007, the US Attorney General brought charges on 35 counts, including identity theft and money laundering . Two weeks before the scheduled trial, there were 40 charges, according to which Soloway could have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

The accused led several points to its defense, such that these mails an exclusion clause contained stating that they would offer free services; the dispatch was therefore not subject to the American anti-spam law ( CAN-SPAM ), which always requires a commercial background. He also blamed the “spam employees” (quote from Soloway) of his company Newport Internet Marketing (NIM) for the first illegal actions. He fired her after Microsoft's advance and then took the activities into his own hands.

On March 14, 2008, the court accepted a settlement offer from Soloway's attorneys. Accordingly, the defendant pleaded guilty on three counts: sending fraudulent mail, fraud related to electronic mail and a failure to submit a tax return. On July 22, 2008, the Seattle court sentenced Robert Soloway to 47 months in prison and a $ 700,000 refund. Judge Marsha Pechman characterized Soloway in her verdict as a socially up to date 13-year-old backward perpetrator who grew up in computer isolation.

He was released on parole in March 2011. Probation also means that all his Internet traffic is monitored by probation officers for a period of three years .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Man described as a top spammer arrested , Yahoo . May 31, 2007. Archived from the original on June 7, 2007. 
  2. ↑ US Internet 'Spam King' arrested . In: The Times of India . May 31, 2007. Archived from the original on June 2, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
  3. ↑ Podcast: How the 'Spam King' Was Caught . In: eWeek . June 4, 2007. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
  4. ↑ Spam King Robert Soloway smacked down 23 September, 2005.
  5. ^ Brian McWilliams: Spammers Can't Hide Behind Affiliates , O'Reilly Network. April 29, 2005. Retrieved May 31, 2007. 
  6. ↑ vbr: Spam King has been behind bars for almost four years. In: Heise Newsticker. July 23, 2008, accessed August 12, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Stefanie Heiss: The “Spam King” is free. In: Jetzt.sueddeutsche.de. March 7, 2011, accessed August 12, 2011 .
personal data
SURNAME Soloway, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Soloway, Robert Alan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1980