Police say 5.4 billion spam emails were sent

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A man faces a sentence of up to 101 years in federal prison after being the first person in the US convicted under a federal anti-spam law, authorities said

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A man faces a sentence of up to 101 years in federal prison after being the first person in the US convicted under a federal anti-spam law, authorities said

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The jury conviction is the first under the CAN-SPAM Act.

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The jury conviction is the first under the CAN-SPAM Act.

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(InfoWorld) - Under a new rule that will come into force next month, European registrars for the “.eu” domain will be able to immediately stop the transfer of ownership of a domain name if it’s suspected of abuse.
The rule, set to take effect Feb. 19, will make it easier for investigations into activities such as spam, although the Web site can still function, said Patrik Lindn, communications manager for the European Registry of Internet Domain Names (Eurid).
Eurid is a nonprofit organization based in Diegem, Belgium, that oversees administration of the .eu domain, which startedaccepting registrationsin December 2005. So far, about 2.4 million Web sites now carry the .eu top-level domain suffix.
Under current rules, registrars had to give domain owners 14 days notice before putting a hold on ownership transfers, Lindn said. But those who were using Web sites for nefarious activities could continually transfer ownership, making it more difficult to take action, he added.
Eurid, which has been running for about a year, is also circulating a draft of a code of conduct for its registrars. The code lays out a series of best practices that weren’t appropriate to include in the legal agreement Eurid already has with domain registrars, Lindn said.
Eurid has had trouble with registrars before. In July 2006,Eurid suspended74,000 .eu Web addresses and sued 400 registrars after it suspected domain names were being registered with the intent to sell them, which is forbidden. Later, Eurid said it appeared all of the suspended domain names and registrars were linked to just three U.K.-based companies.
Eurid is accepting comments through Feb. 19 from registrars on a draft version of the code, Lindn said. The code will be finalized next month and will be voluntary for registrars.
After electing a new executive board of registrars, the code should be put into practice by the end of March, Lindn said.
Registrars that adopt the code will be entitled to place a “.eu Code of Conduct” logo on their Web site to alert users, indicating the registrar meets the code’s service standards.


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(InfoWorld) - Under a new rule that will come into force next month, European registrars for the “.eu” domain will be able to immediately stop the transfer of ownership of a domain name if it’s suspected of abuse.
The rule, set to take effect Feb. 19, will make it easier for investigations into activities such as spam, although the Web site can still function, said Patrik Lindn, communications manager for the European Registry of Internet Domain Names (Eurid).
Eurid is a nonprofit organization based in Diegem, Belgium, that oversees administration of the .eu domain, which startedaccepting registrationsin December 2005. So far, about 2.4 million Web sites now carry the .eu top-level domain suffix.
Under current rules, registrars had to give domain owners 14 days notice before putting a hold on ownership transfers, Lindn said. But those who were using Web sites for nefarious activities could continually transfer ownership, making it more difficult to take action, he added.
Eurid, which has been running for about a year, is also circulating a draft of a code of conduct for its registrars. The code lays out a series of best practices that weren’t appropriate to include in the legal agreement Eurid already has with domain registrars, Lindn said.
Eurid has had trouble with registrars before. In July 2006,Eurid suspended74,000 .eu Web addresses and sued 400 registrars after it suspected domain names were being registered with the intent to sell them, which is forbidden. Later, Eurid said it appeared all of the suspended domain names and registrars were linked to just three U.K.-based companies.
Eurid is accepting comments through Feb. 19 from registrars on a draft version of the code, Lindn said. The code will be finalized next month and will be voluntary for registrars.
After electing a new executive board of registrars, the code should be put into practice by the end of March, Lindn said.
Registrars that adopt the code will be entitled to place a “.eu Code of Conduct” logo on their Web site to alert users, indicating the registrar meets the code’s service standards.


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The first person convicted under the Can-Spam Act of 2003 faces up to 101 years of jail time after a California jury found him guilty of multiple crimes. Jeffrey Brett Goodin was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.Arrested last year, Goodin had been running a sophisticated phishing operation in which he posed as a member of AOL’s billing department and tricked users into divulging their credit card information.To run the scheme, Goodin used several compromised Earthlink accounts and set up fake Web sites that mimicked legitimate AOL pages. Like other phishers, Goodin used good old fashioned fear-mongering and official-looking threats to scare people into giving out the data.Users that fell prey to the scam would submit personal details including credit card numbers, addresses, and passwords, believing that failing to do so would result in suspension of their Internet accounts.Con GameOnce Goodin had users’ credit card data, he used the numbers to make purchases online, although the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not detail what he bought or release info on how much money he made as a result of the scam.The jury found Goodin guilty not only of the Can-Spam infringement, but also of 10 other counts, including misuse of the AOL trademark, witness harassment, failure to appear in court, wire fraud, and aiding and abetting the unauthorized use of credit cards.Sentencing for the convictions will be handed down on June 11, with the maximum jail time topping out at 101 years in federal prison. The case was investigated by the Ontario Police Department and the Electronic Crimes Task Force, which consists of agents from the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. Law MakersIn the past, the Can-Spam Act has drawn criticism for allowing certain concessions

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The first person convicted under the Can-Spam Act of 2003 faces up to 101 years of jail time after a California jury found him guilty of multiple crimes. Jeffrey Brett Goodin was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.Arrested last year, Goodin had been running a sophisticated phishing operation in which he posed as a member of AOL’s billing department and tricked users into divulging their credit card information.To run the scheme, Goodin used several compromised Earthlink accounts and set up fake Web sites that mimicked legitimate AOL pages. Like other phishers, Goodin used good old fashioned fear-mongering and official-looking threats to scare people into giving out the data.Users that fell prey to the scam would submit personal details including credit card numbers, addresses, and passwords, believing that failing to do so would result in suspension of their Internet accounts.Con GameOnce Goodin had users’ credit card data, he used the numbers to make purchases online, although the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not detail what he bought or release info on how much money he made as a result of the scam.The jury found Goodin guilty not only of the Can-Spam infringement, but also of 10 other counts, including misuse of the AOL trademark, witness harassment, failure to appear in court, wire fraud, and aiding and abetting the unauthorized use of credit cards.Sentencing for the convictions will be handed down on June 11, with the maximum jail time topping out at 101 years in federal prison. The case was investigated by the Ontario Police Department and the Electronic Crimes Task Force, which consists of agents from the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. Law MakersIn the past, the Can-Spam Act has drawn criticism for allowing certain concessions

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InternetNews.com: Possibly, which reflects how the unwitting are contributing so much to the malware problem.

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