• Still need a Google Press Day invitation.
• Dear fans of Snacky or Flacky contestants who are e-mailing said contestants to ask them out: They thank you, warily, for your affection. If they don't reply, it's because they're very busy and important.
• Granted, some of them are actively campaigning for votes. But hey, being up against Nathan Tyler drives men to desperate measures.
• Spam King Alan Ralsky wasn't arrested, but he did disappear. Where's Ralsky?
• As always, tips are welcome — especially tech-celebrity sightings, overheard one-liners, and dumb press items. Send to tips@valleywag.com.

I wasn't hoaxing (pretty sure my source wasn't either), just running with a seemingly solid rumor. (Who hoaxes on a Friday?) Still looking into why I was told this story in the first place, and contacting my source. Will report back on whether someone in the spam world wanted to make everyone else duck, or whether a hacker got bored of running IE exploits and tipped another hacker with a faked caller ID. (Or if it's a giant conspiracy involving the true locations of Jimmy Hoffa's body and Britney Spears' sense of dignity).

No confirm has come so I went looking in the obvious place.

I rang a number reputably belonging to him. The man who answered cautiously denied being him. The voice I heared sounded old enough. I vagualy recall hearing an interview with him some years ago and the voice seemed familiar. So I went and found a recorded interview. I do believe the two voices were the same.

With the caveat that the phone voice was a little muffled and I cant be 100 pc sure the number is still valid, it would appear that he is still at large.

A scrap of evidence, but a red flag in the light of no forthcoming confirmation of the Spam King story.

Earlier: Scoop: DOJ jails Spam King! Alan Ralsky might rat out a massive hacker / spammer network [Valleywag]

Escher Auernheim: i just got a phonecall
MemeHacker: ??
Escher: the DOJ is pissed
and like
Meme: shit
well
Escher: sent goons to spamhaus people
Meme: reporters are calling them
Escher: to SCREAM at the top of their lungs
for like an hour
cause we
broke their whole fucking plan
Meme: what did they expect tho?
Escher: and spammers are shutting their shit down
and ralsky has already plead down
and they cant get arrests from the info
oh man vicious lols
Meme: hahah
trolling the doj

So far, the news is only out here and at tech news site infoWorld. The Washington Post will have the story soon, and press points are working on the New York Times. So either the media's saved the hip hacker crowd from the Man, or we've all just saved the spam industry. Keep tracking the news here, the first source for Fuck the DOJ News.

Hackers quaking over reported Spam King's arrest [infoWorld]
Earlier: Scoop: DOJ jails Spam King! Alan Ralsky might rat out a massive hacker / spammer network [Valleywag]

Valleywag: Tell me the scoop in three sentences.
Memehacker: Alan Ralsky is currently being held by the feds and his file is sealed for the next 72hrs by the DOJ. We are concerned that he is going to narq out the entire network since they have enough on him to send him to jail. This means hackers, spammers, anyone who has worked in spam legally or illegally for the last 5 years at least.
The DOJ wants to do a dragnet, they have the top dog, but they want the whole system as well.
Wag: How many people could be in trouble?
MH: There is a risk of a huge network collapse in the hack scene. I couldn't estimate since I don't know who he has worked with, but it's a lot of people. Think of a huge pyramid with him at the top. He is one of the few people that has knowledge of a large part of the hackscene network.
Wag: What were Ralsky's biggest crimes? How would I explain this guy to my mom?
MH: Ralsky is known as the Spam King. He is one of the biggest spammers out there, his network and spamlists are huge. He is not afraid to use shady methods to bypass filters and to acquire new lists.
He has been known to use the hack scene to help him spam and to get him new lists to work with.

After the jump, why Ralsky would squeal.

Wag: What does he get out of ratting everyone out? And why didn't he do it in 2005 when he was raided?
MH: If he can cut a deal with the DOJ he may get a reduced sentence or even full immunity. I don't know how much he has to offer them, but taking out a network as large as his would definitely give him some bargaining power. I believe this is still the same case as 2005, they just didn't have enough on him back then to really scare him.
Shutting down his network is a lot less scary than jailtime, which was all they could do back then.
We assume that it is more this time since the DOJ sealed the case. They don't do that unless they are planning to do something during that time.
Wag: How many people would get burned? How bad could the fallout be?
MH: It depends on who did what for him, or what he knows about people. I couldn't estimate, but currently a lot of people are very scared.
It's not just about spamming, he knows stuff about other various activities in the hack scene.
Wag: Are we just talking about a bunch of kids here?
MH: Not just kids, legit spam companies that use shadier methods, older people who do spam stuff on the side to make money. There was that case a few years ago of the kid who got aol's user file and tried to sell it. Stuff like that, leaving your company, but taking some info and trading it for money or info. Sometimes people do stupid things because they are upset at their company or something.
Wag: And why get the story out there? What's your motive?
MH: Personally I want the network to be aware of what's going on. Who knows what he is saying in there, no one knows what exactly he knows.
Or what he has guessed.
Wag: And what happens when the file's unsealed?
MH: Even just some stupid kid that bragged to him about buzzing a government network to see if he could.
Then we know what the charges are, what they have on him.
And possibly the deal that was made.

Stay tuned to Valleywag as the story develops.