AOL employee arrested for selling 90 million addresses to spammers

Posted Thu, Jun 24 2004 6:23 by Harry Waldron

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3834919.stm

An America Online employee has been arrested after he allegedly sold 90 million customer e-mail addresses to providers of unsolicited adverts. 

Spam now accounts for up to 83% of all e-mail, according to some estimates.  A movement to get rid of the nuisance e-mails is now under way in the US.  The arrests are thought to be two of the first prosecutions under new federal anti-spam laws.