A Boca Raton, FL, man was sentenced to eight years in federal prison last week after being found guilty on August 12 of stealing more than 1 billion records from Acxiom Corp.
Scott Levine, formerly a principal of e-mail concern Snipermail, was reportedly led out of court in handcuffs after the sentencing.
Levine used sophisticated decryption software to illegally obtain passwords and exceed his authorized access to Acxiom’s databases, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The government claims the stolen data was worth about $58 million; Levine’s lawyer said it was worth about $50,000, according to reports.
There is no evidence that the data was used for identity theft or fraud, according to law enforcement officials. However, they said, some of the data was resold to a broker for use in a marketing campaign.
Boca Raton is considered by many to be the spam capital of the world. Why is that? Does getting liquored up on Mojitos create an irresistible urge to send penis-enlargement scams over the Internet? Is it cool to be a gangster spammer in Florida? Imagine the jailhouse conversations there: “What are you in for?” “Viagra, you?” “Breast enlargement cream. I guess we could use a little of both right now.”
