Related Resources • Melissa Description • Virus Encyclopedia • Glossary of terms

How much is your time worth? If you're David Smith, creator of the Melissa virus, it's apparently worth a whopping $4 million a month. Smith was sentenced in a New Jersey courtroom on May 1, 2002, receiving only twenty months in Federal prison and a $5,000 fine for creating and distributing the virus which is estimated to have caused $80 million in damage. Smith was originally facing up to ten years and a $150,000 fine, but prosecutors agreed to the shorter sentence, noting that Smith provided "extensive assistance in thwarting other virus creators". Given that what constitutes an Internet crime is not always easily discernible (in April 2002, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of looser regulations concerning child pornography on the 'Net), it seems almost surprising that Smith received any penalty at all. In addition to the prison sentence and fine, Smith was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service - using his computer skills. The long awaited sentencing comes nearly two and a half years after Smith entered a guilty plea in December 1999.

Melissa was a macro virus affecting Microsoft Word that mass-mailed itself to the first fifty addresses found in the Outlook Address Book. Initially distributed on the alt.sex newsgroup, the macro virus/worm quickly spread in March 1999. The Melissa virus was sent in a file called LIST.DOC, which contained passwords for X-rated websites. When users downloaded the file and opened it in Microsoft Word, a macro inside the document executed and e-mailed the LIST.DOC file others.