Major spammer claims to have reformed

[Larwee]

Ryan Pitylak was a major spammer. A spam tracking firm says he was the fourth-worst spammer in the world. He was sending 25 million spam e-mail each day.

Ryan Pitylak has settled a lawsuit with the state of Texas and Microsoft. It is costing him one million dollars. He is also required to stop spamming. The poor guy will no longer have his $430,000 house or his BMW.

He now is calling himself an "antispam activist", and says he will work with companies to help protect them against spam.

Some people might wonder if he would be calling himself an "antispam activist" if he hadn't been caught and if he would still be spamming if he hadn't been caught.

According to the Texas attorney general, Ryan Pitylak sent his millions of unsolicited emails from addresses that made them look as if they were coming from legitimate mortgage brokers and lenders. He had even filed paperwork for dozens of shell companies in California, Texas and Nevada to keep the enterprise running. The spoofed emails and fraudulent network of companies was enough for the Texas attorney general to file suit. The CAN-SPAM act caught up with Ryan Pitylak.

Some might also wonder if his "change of heart" had anything to do with his "punishment", which not everyone feels is severe enough.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13138246/

[lindsey]

I heard about the story about Ryan Pitylak. I never read into details. So I did a google search on the guy. He apparently blogs about anti spam techniques.

It appears in the article annoucing the settlement between Microsoft and Pitylak that he also started a security company of his own. Which he registered in April of this year - meaning the domain for his security company. The case was settled in May and annouced in June.

So from what it looks like is he still stands to earn plenty of money. So he may be able to still keep that BMW and house. What do you think? Even though he got caught, or choose to get caught. Was it by all means to make money?