Spinner
24 Jun 2004, 2:23am
An AOL software engineer has been arrested for stealing the company's entire subscriber list, totalling 92 million screen names and selling it to a 21-year-old Las Vegas spammer. Apparently Jason Smathers, 24, last year illegally accessed the highly confidential AOL list by using another employee's identification codes.
AOL's subscriber base is about 30 million individual customers, who account for 92 million different screen names. Prosecutors also contend that Smathers subsequently sold Hathaway an updated AOL customer list--this one with approximately 18 million names--for $100,000. Both men have been charged with conspiracy, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Submitted by: profdlp
Source: Thesmokinggun (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0623042aol1.html)
AOL's subscriber base is about 30 million individual customers, who account for 92 million different screen names. Prosecutors also contend that Smathers subsequently sold Hathaway an updated AOL customer list--this one with approximately 18 million names--for $100,000. Both men have been charged with conspiracy, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Submitted by: profdlp
Source: Thesmokinggun (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0623042aol1.html)