AOL Giving Away Spammer's Seized Porsche

[350HP930]

LOL, talk about cosmic justice . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/04/09/aol.car.ap/index.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- America Online said its members have submitted more than one million AOL screen names for the Internet company' s unorthodox drawing for a spammer' s seized sportscar.

Last week, AOL announced it had confiscated a Porsche Boxster S convertible as part of a settlement with a spammer who made more that $1 million from sending unwanted junk e-mail. The company launched a sweepstakes for the car on March 30 as " a gesture of support and thanks" to its members for their help in the fight against spam.

At one point during the first 24 hours of the sweepstakes, AOL processed several hundred entries per minute, the company said. The sweepstakes has generated 3 million pageviews of the sweepstakes promotion in just over eight days.

AOL stopped taking names at 11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday. The winner will be selected in a random drawing on Friday or soon after, and will likely be announced publicly during the week of April 19.

[ronin]

how can you confiscate something that was a part of a settlement? better yet, since when are private parties allowed to confiscate anything?

[350HP930]

My guess is the owner agreed to turn over the car as part of the settlement. Leave it to the press to add the word seized to the story.

[ronin]

methinks you're right on target. nothing like a little bit of good old-fashioned embellishment to spice up a story. I can just see the follow-up on this...

"Property of 'Spammers' Now Subject to Seizure"...

ah the price we pay for living in a free country