AOL Goes Digging For Gold (Yes, Literally)

from the get-me-some-gold dept

A year ago, AOL had a contest where they decided to give away $20,000 in gold bars they had received from spammer Brad Bournival, as part of their settlement with him. Bournival is a name that should be familiar to anyone who read Brian McWilliams’ excellent book Spam Kings. Bournival, if you recall, was the apprentice to the book’s main character, Davis Wolfgang Hawke. While Bournival was willing to cooperate when authorities cracked down on their spamming activities, Hawke ran. However, since AOL won their case against both spammers, it feels that Hawke still owes them plenty of money. In the book, it details how Hawke would hide his money all over the place often in the form of gold bars, and apparently the folks at AOL have taken notice. They’re now trying to dig up the backyard of Hawke’s parents, in search of more gold bars. A judge has given permission for the search, which AOL says shouldn’t be too destructive — but Hawke’s mother is vowing to fight the search, saying she has no clue where her son is and she’s sure he didn’t bury any gold on their property.


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Comments on “AOL Goes Digging For Gold (Yes, Literally)”

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14 Comments
Guy says:

WHAT!

I’m sorry there is no reason AOL has any legal right to distrube the grounds of his mother unless he was under 18 when he dident i havent read the book at all but seriously AOL is over steping their bounds legaly i think plus come on any person that was going to hide gold would never put it in their parents back yard it’s the first place someone would look and another thing when aol does not find anything in the backyard the mother can Sue aol and win hands down even if a judge gave a search warrent

z0idberg says:

WHAT!

If a judge has granted permission for AOL to dig up the back yard then there is a pretty good chance they have a legal right to do so. There is no way she will be able to sue AOL in the future for this.

If the guy has fled the country and the parents house is the only place they havent looked that he might have put it why can’t they search it if a court agrees?

And you might want to check your fullstop button, I don’t think it is working.

wow says:

AOL is hurting that bad now?

I can’t help but to laugh at this topic. Is AOL hurting that bad where they have to turn every stone for a gold bar? ROFL I mean I understand about the spam thing. I hate spam too, but lol… this is too funny. I think changing their business model would prove to yield more “gold” instead of panning for gold. LOL LOL

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