According to an Internet watchdog group, one University student has been one of the largest distributors of an Internet phenomenon nearly everyone else is united against: spam.
The Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft both have anti-spam task forces. Congress passed the "CAN-SPAM" Act to increase restrictions on the messages' senders. Even the University got involved when it implemented a new spam filter Monday.
But Spamhaus, an online watchdog group that researches and tracks known spammers, says Ryan Pitylak, an advertising junior, and two other men are responsible for countless unsolicited e-mails.
The group alleges that Pitylak, along with Steve Goudreault and Mark Trotter, own at least seven "companies" that they use to send spam.
Spamhaus says it only awards places on the list to people and groups who have been banned by at least three different Internet service providers.
According to Spamhaus' Web site, "Being thrown off three ISPs for the same offense means the spammer is a committed hard-line spam operation that regards all ISPs as simply throwaway resources."
Through their limited liability companies, the group registered scores of domain names, which they use to send massive amounts of e-mails, according to Spamhaus.
If users reply to the messages, which often promise low mortgage rates or free insurance quotes, their personal information may be sold to legitimate advertisers.
Pitylak, Goudreault and Trotter were not available for comment Wednesday.
A July 2003 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 7 percent of e-mail users had responded to unsolicited advertisements for a product or service at least once.
"Some bulk e-mailers claim that even a 0.001-percent positive response rate is a break-even point," the group's report reads.
Pitylak has more than the average 22-year-old college student, but it is difficult to say how much he profits from his companies.
According to Travis County tax records, he owns a home worth $450,000 in Austin's Deep Eddy neighborhood.
The groups' companies often supply different physical addresses in messages than those they have registered with state regulatory agencies.
According to records filed with the Texas Secretary of State's office, Pitylak registered PayPerAction, LLC in 2002 and supplied a mailing address in Reno, Nev.
Pitylak and Trotter also listed the same address when they registered LeadPlex, LLC.
But both companies also have Austin addresses. LeadPlex leases a Sixth Street office, and in small print on some of the spam messages tied to PayPerAction is an address for an office building on Mopac Boulevard.
The Sixth Street office has a PayPerAction sign on the door, but a sign facing the street says, "Assured Traffic," another company operated by Pitylak.
The tenants of the Mopac office are not often there, said Jeff Henley, the Mopac complex's leasing agent.
Henley said Pitylak did not supply any reason for wanting the space but registered it under PayPerAction.
Pitylak's actions may have earned him the attention of law enforcement.
Henley said Pitylak recently told him that he was being investigated by Texas authorities.
It is not clear whether Pitylak and his associates actually violated any laws, or whether the FTC will expend resources to prosecute them even if they did.
"This is all about cost," Paula Selis, co-chairwoman of the FTC's anti-spam task force told The Chicago Tribune. "As long as it's still cheaper for spammers to take the risk of drawing a lawsuit, and that risk is fairly low, they will continue to send spam."
Congress enacted the "CAN-SPAM" Act in January as a way to implement a national standard for combating spam.
The legislation forces senders to include with the messages a valid physical address and instructions for users to remove their names from the senders' list.
The FTC has only filed two cases against spammers since the legislation was enacted. It filed separate criminal charges in late spring against two companies, which officials said both marketed and sold fake diet patches using unsolicited e-mails.
"The cyber scam artists who exploit the Internet for commercial gain should take notice," Jeffrey Collins, a Michigan U.S. attorney, said in a statement shortly after the charges were announced. "Federal law now makes it a felony to use falsehood and deception to hide the origin of the spam messages hawking your fraudulent wares."
Be the first to comment on this article!