How big is the Soloway arrest?

I was talking with our PR firm today with regards to the importance (or lack thereof) of the Robert Soloway arrest. Since it seems as if everyone has an opinion about the topic, myself included (I'm not typically known for lacking an opinion on something, for better or worse), I figured that I would make mine known.

Before I get labeled as a naysayer, let me first say that anytime a spammer is arrested, particularly one that was responsible for as much spam and fraud that he was responsible for, it is a good day. Soloway operated in a manner where he didn't make great strides to hide who he was or what he did. He is widely known throughout the industry both for his "business model" as well as his arrogance and confidence that he would never be caught. So much for that.

The bigger question at hand though is whether or not the arrest of Soloway will make any real difference in the amount of spam that is on the internet? My opinion is that it won't. If it does, it will only be a short term blip on the radar. There are certainly enough other people out there ready, willing, and able to pick up the slack in Soloway's absence. There are more people jumping into the spamming fray on a daily basis, not to mention that Soloway wasn't the biggest spammer out there anyway. Yes, he was a big fish in the pond, but there are certainly bigger fish still out there.

The spam fight is by no way over. This is a great victory, but is only one small battle in the overall picture. Hopefully we will see more of these arrests coming in the near future because a big part of the spammer bravado is the feeling that they cannot and will not be caught. Until more of the big fish are taken offline there is little to deter more little fish from jumping into the pond with the same arrogance.