*It's pretty much a given that a spammer has to be
a sociopath, but this British guy is such a spectacular
bad yegg that I have to wonder if six years in the slammer
is gonna be enough for him.
Presumably he won't be walking early for good behavior.
ARRESTS, CONVICTIONS AND SENTENCES
–"Vindictive" Spammer Receives Six-Year Sentence
(17/16 November 2005)
British police have sentenced Peter Francis-Macrae to six years in jail. Francis-Macrae sent spam offering to sell .eu domain names even though he had no authority to do so; his efforts earned him GBP 1.6 million (US$2.75 million).
When law enforcement officials began to close in on him, Francis-Macrae started making violent threats against people.
Francis-Macrae has so far refused to disclose to police the location of more than GBP 400,000 (US$688,000) in proceeds from his activities that he withdrew from a building society. Francis-Macrae was found guilty of fraudulent trading, concealing criminal property, threatening to destroy or damage property, making threats to kill and blackmail.
The judge in the case told Francis-Macrae that he is "one of the most vindictive young men" he has ever seen.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20409-1876066,00.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/17/spammer_jailed/print.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/4442772.stm
http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/thespamreport/0,39025001,39154333,00.htm
Either they dragged this guy straight out of central
casting, or else the BBC's photographers have figured
out what evil h4ck3r-geeks with a cathode-ray tan are supposed
to look like nowadays.
