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Tech Watch | InfoWorld Staff » Hackers quaking over reported Spam King's arrest

April 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Hackers quaking over reported Spam King's arrest

According to an unconfirmed report, spam king Alan Ralsky has been arrested by federal law enforcement and is being held pending the release of a sealed indictment against him.

The problem: Ralsky apparently has the goods on a wide swath of the hacker underground, and folks there are really worried he's gonna spill the beans to the feds in return for a lesser sentence.

Ralsky is a near legend in the spam community -- the subject of a raft of lawsuits from Verizon and others for his shameless spamming activity. MOre recently the feds have been closing in. His home in Michigan was raided back in October. And rumor has it that a datacenter Ralsky used was raided a couple weeks back.

A DOJ official contacted by InfoWorld said he hadn't heard of the arrest and I'm waiting for more official comment. But according to "Memehacker," the underworld hacking scene is all abuzz about the arrest and indictment.

"we are worried that he will strike a deal, out the network for a reduced sentence/immunity" he told IW via instant messenger.

"they have the top guy, now they want the people doing the work," he wrote.

Ralsky's tentacles strectched far beyond the spamming scene, the thinking goes -- in his quest to make dough, he made connections across the underworld.

"He knows stuff that has nothing to do with spamming. It's just knowledge," he wrote.

According to the rumors, the Federal indictment against Ralsky is sealed for 72 hours, after which we might learn a lot more about what the govt. knows about his activities -- and the shockwaves may be felt across the Internet.

Stay tuned....

Posted by Paul Roberts on April 28, 2006 02:10 PM


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I noticed a couple times throughout the article you referred to memehacker as a 'he'. I just felt it extremely necessary to bring forth the fact that memehacker is a 'she'. Don't assume that just because someone is in the Infosec industry, or is knowledgable about things pertaining to computers that they are male.

Posted by: apashi at April 28, 2006 04:46 PM

Apashi: welcome to English. When there is a gender (eg., we're not talking about a spoon), but the gender is unknown, English calls for use of the male gender by default. Saying he/she/it, while certainly PC, wouldn't really accomplish much.

That being said, one can't but enjoy the dialog between Neo and Trinity:

N: Are you the one that hacked the IRS dBase?
T: That was a long time ago...
N: I... I thought you were a guy.
T: Most guys do.

Posted by: Ken at April 29, 2006 09:25 PM

Ain't nothing to be scared of- if your a 'hacker' you know how not to reveal your identity. If your a hacker- then you have nothing to fear cause learning ain't a crime. Ok- the FBI thinks it is but... I'm screwed, aren't I?

Posted by: Linux User :) at April 29, 2006 10:34 PM

If you're going to criticize a writer, at least criticize for something worth while. That was petty.

Posted by: Jerry Burger at April 29, 2006 10:42 PM

Almost everyone who knows anything at all about computing machines/networks/protocols/applications dev./etc. IS male, idiot.

...and for a very simple reason: There are almost no girls smart enough to do it, idiot.

So please, for the love of anything at all...

SHUT. UP.

...idiot.

Posted by: transitive at April 29, 2006 11:53 PM

Ralsky can burn in hell. Have fun rotting in prison, you fucktard.

Posted by: echelon at April 30, 2006 12:01 AM

Haha. I think that was made quite clear by a certain trinity of movies...

Posted by: darkdaedra at April 30, 2006 01:34 AM

oh please

Posted by: hehehacker at April 30, 2006 02:39 AM

This article suggests that the hacker community is also involved with spamming activities. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you spend some time at popular hacking sites such as slashdot or digg you will find that spam is deeply resented by the the technical elete. Pehaps you meant to use the work "cracker" instead of "hacker".

Posted by: Steve at April 30, 2006 02:53 AM

'He' is the indefinite third person pronoun in English. I just felt it extremely necessary to bring forth the fact that feminists who don't know their grammar shouldn't subvert language, too, for their political purposes...

Posted by: Harvey Mansfield at April 30, 2006 05:51 AM

You know, "he" is a valid generic term when the sex of an individual is unknown...get your panties out of a twist.

Posted by: Kyle at April 30, 2006 07:36 AM

Perhaps it was an attempt at protecting his/her identity.

Posted by: Goran at April 30, 2006 08:36 AM

Whaaa. Take your political correctness elsewhere.

Posted by: bah at April 30, 2006 10:22 AM

Typos galore

Posted by: James Hudnall at April 30, 2006 11:35 AM

Let us all hope that Alan sings like a canary and brings down a whole bunch of his scum-sucking spammer buddies.


Mike
http://shapetest.com

Posted by: Mike at April 30, 2006 07:47 PM

If you've spent years hanging at slashdot, you'll also have noticed individuals who claim to be "whores", that is, they'll do anything using technology, for money.

I have no doubt that there are some minority who frequent slashdot (at least in years past) who might accept money from Ralsky and others.

The dot-bomb put a lot of good people out of work. Just like the fall of the Soviet Union might have tempted some scientists to whore their knowhow to the highest bidder.

Posted by: Danny at May 1, 2006 07:50 AM

Interesting how Alan Ralsky keeps popping up. Talked to someone recently who knows a woman Ralsky had a long time affair with in the mid 80s to early 90s who had to do jail time thanks to him in the UP of Michigan. This was easily verifiable from newspaper articles and court records. Hell of guy, huh? Seems he has quite the penchant for skirts. Irmengard must be incredibly greedy not to have tossed his ass out long ago. More than likely he uses her to attempt to hide assets.

Posted by: simon at February 19, 2007 08:02 AM

Hahaha
how you going send the spams now.

let me ges.. you going to send you new friends report the news...hahahhahaha...

I hope the gards lose the key wher you are now MTFker

Posted by: Carlie at May 31, 2007 04:59 PM

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