Shane Atkinson
Encyclopedia
Shane Atkinson, of Christchurch
, New Zealand was a major spammer whose details were leaked on to the Internet soon after an article was written about him in the New Zealand Herald. After he was exposed as a spammer in 2003, Shane Atkinson found himself at the receiving end of a barrage of public outrage and proclaimed that he would give up spamming.
Atkinson was tracked down by anti-spam collaborators on the Usenet
news.net-admin newsgroup
s. Before being identified, Atkinson's operation would send up to 100 million messages on a "good day," advertising for penis-enlargement pills. The actual spamming was done by a 15 year-old boy in the United States
, who earned $US500 a day doing so. His web sites were hosted on Polish
and Pakistan
i network providers.
His brother Lance has also become well-known and was ordered to pay $US2 million to the US authorities for his spamming operations in March 2005.
An investigation by the BBC broadcast in December 2007 and January 2008 found Atkinson was still active in spamming. Atkinson’s Internet service provider
was contacted and explained that he was not sending it from his own account but hiding behind a number of other slave or zombie computers, making identification difficult. Simon Cox of the BBC phoned Atkinson in late 2007 and after confirming his identity told him that there were serious allegations about him. He denied them. His reply was
Cox put it to him that he was still controlling a network of computers and that he had been sending out spam.
Atkinson replied
Following on Cox’s investigation, New Zealand police at the end of 2007 raided four properties in Christchurch and seized 22 computers. They interviewed two men about illegal spamming and in October 2008 the Department of Internal Affairs
asked the High Court to impose penalties of NZ$200,000 each for breaching the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act
On Monday, 22 December 2008 Lance Atkinson was fined $NZ100,000 after the Department of Internal Affairs laid charges under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act. It is understood Atkinson settled out of court. In summing up the judge conceded that the offending started before the act came into force and Atkinson had co-operated with the authorities. Lance now has the dubious honour of being the first person to be fined under the new act. Shane Atkinson and Roland Smits have elected to defend the changes currently before the courts.
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, New Zealand was a major spammer whose details were leaked on to the Internet soon after an article was written about him in the New Zealand Herald. After he was exposed as a spammer in 2003, Shane Atkinson found himself at the receiving end of a barrage of public outrage and proclaimed that he would give up spamming.
Atkinson was tracked down by anti-spam collaborators on the Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
news.net-admin newsgroup
Newsgroup
A usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
s. Before being identified, Atkinson's operation would send up to 100 million messages on a "good day," advertising for penis-enlargement pills. The actual spamming was done by a 15 year-old boy in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, who earned $US500 a day doing so. His web sites were hosted on Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i network providers.
His brother Lance has also become well-known and was ordered to pay $US2 million to the US authorities for his spamming operations in March 2005.
An investigation by the BBC broadcast in December 2007 and January 2008 found Atkinson was still active in spamming. Atkinson’s Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
was contacted and explained that he was not sending it from his own account but hiding behind a number of other slave or zombie computers, making identification difficult. Simon Cox of the BBC phoned Atkinson in late 2007 and after confirming his identity told him that there were serious allegations about him. He denied them. His reply was
Cox put it to him that he was still controlling a network of computers and that he had been sending out spam.
Atkinson replied
Following on Cox’s investigation, New Zealand police at the end of 2007 raided four properties in Christchurch and seized 22 computers. They interviewed two men about illegal spamming and in October 2008 the Department of Internal Affairs
Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand)
The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs is a state sector organisation whose roles include the issue of passports; administering citizenship grant applications, and lottery grant applications; enforcement of censorship and gambling law; registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil...
asked the High Court to impose penalties of NZ$200,000 each for breaching the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act
On Monday, 22 December 2008 Lance Atkinson was fined $NZ100,000 after the Department of Internal Affairs laid charges under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act. It is understood Atkinson settled out of court. In summing up the judge conceded that the offending started before the act came into force and Atkinson had co-operated with the authorities. Lance now has the dubious honour of being the first person to be fined under the new act. Shane Atkinson and Roland Smits have elected to defend the changes currently before the courts.