<![CDATA[Teen’s Extortion Plot Spims Out of Control:
An upstate New York teenager became the first person arrested in the United States for sending spim, or unsolicited instant messages, last week following a sting operation at Los Angeles International Airport.
Anthony Greco, 18, of Cheektowaga, N.Y., was charged with violating the CAN-SPAM Act, threatening to cause damage to computers with the intent to extort and causing damage to a protected computer. If convicted of all three offenses, Greco faces a maximum possible penalty of 18 years in federal prison.
Greco is accused of sending approximately 1.5 million spim messages to the users of Los Angeles-based MySpace.com, an online community catering to teenagers. The unsolicited messages were mostly advertisements for mortgage refinancing and adult pornography.
No matter how fast you type, you can’t stay ahead of the spim police….]]>