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The writing is quite confusing in trying to explain things but the gist of it appears to be that the person in question (1) applied for IP addresses through num
by masayoshis_son 7y ago
The writing is quite confusing in trying to explain things but the gist of it appears to be that the person in question (1) applied for IP addresses through numerous companies created just for this purpose in order to bypass ARIN's restriction on the number of addresses it was willing to allocate to a single entity, and (2) made the obtained IP address ranges available to serve as VPN endpoints, so that "huge amount of traffic—some of it illicit or criminal—passed through its computer servers but wasn't traceable to the true originators."
He did keep track though of which VPN operator used which range at any given time, so perhaps the "true originators" could be traceable after all, assuming the VPN owners were willing to co-operate. In any case, he is only being prosecuted for (1), and the immediate reason for this is that a couple of US politicians were hacked with attacks originating from these addresses.
- londons_explore 7y agoA prosecution seems a bit over the top for this... Setting up multiple companies to meet some rule isnt against said rule. And anyway, it's a company policy not the law.
- ganoushoreilly 7y agoThese companies often times were bought shelf companies with history so as to have credibility. The goal was selling up blocks to prohibited locations and enabling spamming. This guy spent a lot of time in Tunisia with spam Kong’s and accepted up front money to build infrastructure. The publicly discussed components here are but a small piece of a complex and sloppily run scam organization. Look up the judgements under these businesses over the years at various web hosts. These companies would enter long contracts and eventually stop paying.
- commandersaki 7y agoIt was done to deceive ARIN which is why it is being considered wire fraud.
- smnrchrds 7y agoSo if I sign up for a service with different email addresses to use the 2-week free trial over and over, I will be guilty of wire fraud?
- dlgeek 7y agoYes, and they'd probably throw a CFAA violation in there too.
- smnrchrds 7y agoWow! I shouldn't be surprised, yet I am, that three felonies a day was right.
- jfim 7y agoYes. For example, someone signed up for 58,000 accounts and used them to receive micro deposits (those small sums that are deposited into an account to validate that two accounts are linked correctly). They had their time in court: https://www.wired.com/2008/05/man-allegedly-b/ https://www.wired.com/2008/05/man-allegedly-b/
- zbentley 7y agoIntent matters. Scale of abuse matters qualitatively. The legal system does not operate like a computer program.
- 3xblah 7y agos/will be guilty of/could be charged with/
- swarnie_ 7y agoThis seems like a bit of an over reach no? I've looked up wire fraud in the US and it seems to come with some properly serious penalties: Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.[4]