SPAM ALOT ?

How much Spam will $945 million buy?

Facebook's triumph last month over the notorious spammer, Sanford Wallace, secured a judgment of $711 million for the company .... money it will never see. What appeared to be a hollow victory, however, has set the stage for Wallace's referral to the U.S. Attorney's Office with a request by the judge that he be prosecuted for criminal contempt charges and possible jail time.

Facebook will be standing in line for a long while before it recoups a penny. MySpace won a judgment against Wallace in 2008 for $230 million following a $4 million fine by the FTC in 2006 for running excessive pop-up ads.

Today, the self proclaimed "Godfather of Spam", Alan Ralsky, was sentenced to 51 months in prison. Ralsky's appetite for spam started back in 1997 when he began sending out 70 million messages a day. In 2004 his operation began sending out billions of illegal e-mail ads pitching penny stocks in a pump and dump scheme that grossed millions.

Other indictments are pending as conspirators are facing jail time as well.

Kudos to the companies and law enforcement agencies for diligently tracking down illegal mailers.

Do they serve Spam in prison?