Ex-AOL worker pleads guilty to stealing 92 million screen names
A 24-year-old former American Online software engineer has pleaded guilty to stealing 92 million screen names and e-mail addresses and selling them to spammers, setting off an avalanche of up to seven billion unsolicited e-mails.
The soft-spoken Jason Smathers of Harpers Ferry, W. Va., entered the plea to conspiracy charges on Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where he was likely to face from 18 months to two years in prison at a May 20 sentencing.
Smathers also faces mandatory restitution of between $200,000 and $400,000, the amount the government estimates AOL spent as a result of the e-mails.
In December, Judge Alvin Hellerstein had rejected a similar plea by Smathers, saying he was not convinced he had actually committed a crime. But the judge said prosecutors now had sufficiently explained why he had.
Smathers told the judge that he accepted $28,000 from someone who wanted to pitch an offshore gambling site to AOL customers, knowing that the list of screen names might make its way to others who would send e-mail solicitations.
