Florida spammer gets jail time

A Florida spammer has pled guilty to computer fraud and received a prison sentence of one year following an investigation prompted by BellSouth, the company announced today.

Charles Frye of Daytona Beach, Fla., admitted to Florida's Seventh Judicial Court that he cracked user passcodes on the PCs of BellSouth Internet Services' subscribers and took subscriber accounts in 2002, using them to send millions of deceptive spam messages. Frye also received a three-year suspended sentence and six years of probation, during which time he is banned from owning, leasing or using a computer or accessing the Internet. Frye was also ordered to pay restitution to BellSouth, once he is released from prison, for the man-hours the telco spent helping customers restore their computers and tracking down the cause of the problems.

Frye is the third spammer in Florida to be sentenced and forced to pay restitution, following BellSouth's cooperation with law enforcement. The company announced his conviction to highlight its efforts to cooperate with state and federal law enforcement officials to prosecute spammers and combat all forms of Internet fraud.

"We are doing a lot behind the scenes to help our customers," said a BellSouth spokeswoman. "We want to get the message out to customers that you are not in this alone. This is also intended as a deterrent to potential spammers."

BellSouth offers basic security products, including spam and e-mail virus protection, free to both DSL and dial-up customers, and is promising to develop new security applications to combat new dangers such as spyware.

"The threats are constantly evolving," the spokeswoman said. "We are working with other ISPs and industry groups to try to address the ongoing issues."