Update (November 30, 2002):
Spam statistics have shown an unusual trend this quarter - for the first time ever nearly half of all spam is actually originating from Asian servers. In addition, the normal growth of spam (about 10% more each month, with Thanksgiving to New Year about double that) has bottomed out at a flat 200% (annual) growth, nearly 40% off from anticipated. Spam experts attribute this to the recent collapse of most of the Ralsky spamgangs as a consequence of their losing a lawsuit with Verizon. Though spam experts have always felt that the Ralsky syndicate was responsible for significant spam, no one realized that stopping this particular gang would have such dramatic results.
Original story (November 6, 2002):
Spam warriors the world over are rejoicing about the landmark settlement favoring Verizon against Alan Ralsky. Verizon's 1.64 million 'Net customers will no longer be subject to the constant barrage of millions of UBE (unsolicited bulk E.Mail) and UCE (unsolicited commercial E.Mail) from the Ralsky spamgangs. Verizon filed against Ralsky last year in March. They alleged that Ralsky and his spamgangs had repeatedly clogged their mailservers with millions of UBE and UCE. The spam flood was severe enough to actually close their systems at times on several instances.
Alan Ralsky is no stranger to the legal system. In 1992, he was ordered to refund $120,000 after failing to deliver on contracts for unregulated securities. Illinois court records show he repaid $74,000 to banks in Michigan and Ohio in 1994 over falsification of bank papers. His Illinois insurance license was revoked April 19, 1996. In the late 90's, he began spamming to support himself, though Alan Ralsky officially denies any connection to spamming.
It's not known (the records are sealed for the moment) whether any money changed hands, but Verizon's original demand was for $37 million in damages. Most experts doubt Verizon got any significant cash damages. Ralsky had admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, nor does it stop him from spamming non Verizon users, but it's a start.
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