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Beating the Spam Merchants

Posted by timothy on from the boilss-your-heart-cockles dept.

Crowbraid writes: "Well-written column by Margie Boule from the Portland Oregonian about an individual who got tired of getting spam, sued the company for $25 an email, and won." See also Bennett Haselton's anti-spam page, where he has details on "pursuing the anti-spam lawsuits on four separate fronts." (Those lawsuits were mentioned a few months back.)

4 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wow by SirSlud · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Many of the spams I get regularly top 50k (HTML spams, with flash, gifs, etc, etc). On a slow modem (I dont have one, mind you), it take take abit longer than 2 seconds to download.

    Aside from that, its not about the money. It's about stopping the act of spamming. Unfortunately, the legal system tends to prioritize fiscal damages over inidivudual non-quantifiable damages, so it's probably wiser and faster to go the 'I'll sue to for time waster' route than the 'Spamming is unethical and against the law, and so I'll see if I can convince the police to lay charges' route.

    This is a more effective and faster route to go, and hits spammers where it hurts; their wallets. If they can't make any money from spamming, because the damages people file outweigh the commissions on the referrals and subscriptions they make, whats the point?

    --
    "Old man yells at systemd"
  2. Tennessee Spam Laws by aardwolf64 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I did a little bit of research last week on Spam laws in my home state (Tennessee) According to Tennessee Spam laws, if a company based in Tennessee spams you after you have requested they remove your name, you can sue them for up to $5000 per day they continue to spam them. I found out about this law at SueSpammers.org.

    Incidentally, I have a spamcop IMAP e-mail account that filters out potential spam. There was one guy from Canada that kept spamming me over and over. I noticed that the unsubscribe link (which I had tried twice) pointed to a top level domain. Using Internic's WHOIS, I got the jerk's home address, phone number, and e-mail address. Luckily in this case it wasn't forged. After personally contacting him (and threatening legal action), I have gotten no spam from his "company" in 1 week. (Funny thing is, Canada has no anti-spam laws... it was all BSing)

  3. We're missing the bigger picture here... by PyroJimmy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... which is the fact that spam cases need to eventually be taken through the court system, with a verdict being handed down by a judge or jury.

    This man doesn't qualify for hero status. He basically threatened the company with a lawsuit and accepted a little money to go away and not tell anyone about the company's practices (or at least without the company's name).

    When people settle cases, they may get some money and self-satisfaction, but it does very little good for anyone else. When a case is tried in court and a verdict is rendered, a legal precedent is set by which future actions are governed. This is the only truly effective way of fighting the onslaught of spam email in the long run.

    Even if you manage to get a huge settlement and put a company out of business, the way is still paved for 5 more companies to pop up and take its place. And in this case, it sounds like the company is absolutely free to continue its practices as it has in the past. Where's the good angle to this story?

  4. Re:I would sue, but.... by GSloop · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As far as I'm concerned if you get spammed, it's your fault.

    My house is sited behind 48 inches of reinforced concrete. I have machine-gun pillboxes sited on each corner, each manned 24 hrs a dat. My house never gets burglarized. If you don't do the same and you do get burglarized, it's your fault.

    Sheesh!

    Need I say more?

    Cheers!