You can’t escape the talk of how crime has made the streets unsafe. Is it common knowledge yet that you’re not safe in a virtual environment?
P
rolific spammer Sanford Wallace has long been an annoyance but it seems he’s found a way to upgrade to prospective criminal. Wallace is under federal indictment for allegedly stealing usernames and passwords from Facebook accounts and using this information to send out 27 million spam messages.
This isn’t the first time Wallace has been in the courts concerning his spamming activity. He’s faced numerous civil suits from various entities including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. He also lost a previous suit from Facebook to the tune of $711 million, a judgment that included a ban from any activity on Facebook. However, this is the first time that he’s faced criminal charges and the threat of prison.
It’s arguable whether Wallace’s spamming activity itself is criminal, but stealing this type of personal information is particularly alarming. The victims of this break-in have been put in a terrible position. They have to rely on the integrity of a spammer and believe that the spam will be the only use of the stolen information.
We’ll have to keep an eye on this case as it will be another look into how the judicial system plans to keep us safe in cyberspace.
