News Brief
AOL Employee Charged With Stealing Screen Names
Jun 23, 2004, 12:00 AM
America Online late Wednesday acknowledged that a former employee stole a list of AOL screen names in 2003 and sold it to spammers. The announcement comes amid a series of initiatives deployed by the Dulles, VA-based company in the ongoing battle against spam. U.S. investigators later verified the arrest in a Reuters news report. According to the report, Jason Smathers of Harpers Ferry, W. Va., was charged with stealing a list of 92 million AOL customer screen names and selling them to Internet marketer Sean Dunaway of Las Vegas, according to David Kelley, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. An AOL spokesman said Smathers has been fired from the company.
"AOL has uncovered no information indicating that this theft involved member credit card or password information stored by AOL," an AOL spokesman said in a prepared statement. "AOL rapidly brought this information to the attention of federal law enforcement, and this morning, the AOL employee was arrested and charged with criminal activity relating to the theft of these screen names."
"We deeply regret what has taken place and are thoroughly reviewing and strengthening our internal procedures as a result of this investigation and arrest," the spokesman said.
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
More Consumers Turn To Mobile To Research, Book Travel May 21, 8:30 a.m.
More than half of consumers used a mobile device to book travel in the last 90 ... -
Google+ Needs Android To Climb Out Of Experimental Phase May 20, 9:24 p.m.
Marketers continue to view Google+ as a fledgling network requiring experimentation, although the company released a ... -
AOL, Support.Com Settle Scareware Lawsuit For $8.5 Million May 20, 5:20 p.m.
Web company AOL and software vendor Support.com will pay $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought ... -
Gmail Hangouts Disable Google Voice May 20, 3:23 p.m.
Google's new version of Hangouts for Gmail eliminates Google Voice features. The move is frustrating heavy ... -
Digital Boost: Ziff Davis Acquires NetShelter May 20, 3:19 p.m.
Ziff Davis on Monday announced the acquisition of content network NetShelter from ad platform inPowered. Financial ... -
LikeableAds.com Launches, With Focus On Social Media Ads May 20, 3:04 p.m.
To keep up with growing demand from Madison Avenue, the social marketing consultants at Likeable Media ... -
Yahoo To Ramp 'Native' Ads On Tumblr May 20, 1:37 p.m.
With its $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, Yahoo on Monday made clear that it plans to ... -
Gigya Improves Marketing, Adds 21 Social, Tech Partners May 20, 9:15 a.m.
Social services startup Gigya on Monday is expected to announce the addition of 21 social and ... -
Health/Wellness Shop Diversifies Into Happiness, Launches Platform To Fuel It May 20, 9:06 a.m.
The CementBloc, a spunky New York-based agency specializing in health and wellness marketing, is diversifying into ... -
Yahoo To Buy Tumblr For $1.1 Billion May 19, 7:26 p.m.
The Yahoo board has agreed to acquire popular blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, ...
Be the first to comment on "AOL Employee Charged With Stealing Screen Names"
Leave a Comment