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Spammer Sued Under EU Law

Posted by Zonk on from the good-day-for-clean-inboxes dept.

IngramJames writes "A British businessman has successfully sued a company who sent him a spam email. The case was settled out of court, so is not binding, but it's promising that the spammers had to cough up £300 for a single email! It's being reported (in a much more readable way) on The Register and the BBC." From the BBC article: "Three years ago the EU passed an anti-spam law, the directive on privacy and telecommunications, which gave individuals the right to fight the growing tide of unwanted e-mail by allowing them to claim damages."

16 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Nice job... by tlacuache · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is the kind of thing I like to see. It's time we start holding some of these companies who use spam, spyware, adware, etc. responsible. I hope Texas' suit against Sony is successful, too.

    1. Re:Nice job... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Suppose you own a company, Tlacuache Inc.

      If I decided to commission a detailed spam campaign on your behalf (but without your knowledge - lets call it a 'gift' from the members of my botnet).

      How could you prove you DIDN'T instigate the run, and how could you prove its not your fault?

      Do you enjoy giving your money away?
      This fine hopefully won't set off a trend.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:Nice job... by rcw-work · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Thats technically an opt-in

      If the default is to receive email - the user has to go out of their way to not receive email - exactly how is that opt-in?

      Clue: If you have a mailing list of people who don't really want to be on it, it probably isn't an opt-in mailing list.

  2. But... by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How much will it cost you in:

    Court fees?
    Lost wages from taking days off of work to go to court?
    Lawyer's fees? (Well, you can save on that by getting a season of Law and Order on DVD, I guess...)

    Great in principle, but I fear the day is theirs :(

    1. Re:But... by Rinzwind · · Score: 3, Informative

      Courtfees where payed by the spammer and totalled a staggering of 30 pounds. And there was not a lawyer present.

  3. And from the article... by Misch · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you'd RTFA, you'd see that this was an out of court settlement. The guy didn't win in court, he settled.

    --

    --You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
  4. How will it be paid..? by Zwets · · Score: 3, Funny

    £300 worth of all-natural herbal Viagra?

    --
    One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. - Will Duran
  5. The Messed with the Wrong Man by putko · · Score: 2, Informative

    From the Register Article: ...
    Roberts, who runs his own Internet business as well as the Jersey and Guernsey country code domains, used his legal know-how to apply EU legislation to a UK company, Media Logistics.

    It is believed to be the first time the legislation has been used in the UK, and could open the doors for thousands of other cases.

    Back in August, Roberts received several marketing emails from Media Logistics. They were just a few of the many thousands that he and every Internet user receive each year, except that Mr Roberts tracked the email back to the company using its IP address.

    Recognising that as a UK company it came under the EU law, he sent a letter demanding an apology, damages and the name of the company that had given Media Logistics his email address. The company apologised but refused his two other requests.

    Unfortunately for the company, Roberts, 37, is a recognised internet expert and was studying for a law degree, which he has just been awarded...

    --
    http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
  6. Not a lot, in the UK by Flying+pig · · Score: 3, Interesting
    This is the UK Small Claims Court. I think it currently costs about 80UKP to make a claim, scaling to 10% of the amount claimed. You do not need a lawyer, you can fill in the forms yourself and ask the clerk for advice. The court is fairly informal, run by a kind of junior judge for the most part, who is allowed to employ considerable common sense ("equity"). So it might, possibly, take a day of your time which may be worth it to deal with a very annoying spammer. Oh, and if they decide to ignore your case...summary judgement against them.

    What's more, it works. I was involved in a case in which a company sued a friend claiming payment for work they had not, in fact, done. Although we screwed up mildly on the paperwork the judge in the case decided that did not matter and gave judgement in our favor. The other side walked out feeling very upset, but realised the cost of going to a higher court to try again would be much greater than the amount claimed. So they gave up.

    --
    Pining for the fjords
  7. Doesn't help individuals though by Gandalf_the_Beardy · · Score: 2, Informative

    You can only sue in the small claim court for actual damages suffered. They generally hold that wasting your time is not claimable as damages - actions such as this will only succeed if you can show that you have lost time in the course of a buisness and then suffered a financial cost. Also you generally cannot set a precedent in the small claims court, even if you do win. For those interested further the website for the court is www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

  8. Male Enhancement Industry Dead by ranton · · Score: 3, Funny

    How will the male enhancement industry survive now? I dont think that anyone actually wants those stupid emails in their mailbox, so they will have to try another marketing scheme.

    Too bad, so sad.

    --
    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  9. So WHO can I sue? by MrBandersnatch · · Score: 2, Funny

    Need more info for this exciting new European business opportunity :-

    1) Receive spam
    2) Sue the bastards.
    3) Profit!!

    With 2 years spam saved in my inbox (on another machine because eventually THAT became unmanagable) Im looking forward to this guys "spam kit". However Im wondering if Im only limited to sueing spamming companies...can I sue the services that have an open proxy, the ISPs that allow their customers to have an open proxy? Can I sue yahoo/hotmail for allowing their services to be used for spam. Oh the possibilities.....

  10. Court-ordered spam by reset_button · · Score: 2, Funny

    They actually served the company once for each e-mail sent - they spent hours cleaning out their inbox!

  11. Re:anti-spam laws by Conor+Turton · · Score: 2, Insightful
    But i cannot see the difference between paper or electronic multi marketing.

    Then you're a blithering idiot. One costs them money, the other costs them nothing. One they'll target, the other they'll just send to anywhere.

    And imho this is another stupid law the EU passed before thinking about it

    Actually, it's a very well thought out one. We also have others here such as a the Telephone Preference Service where you can register that you don't want sales calls and if a company subsequently cold calls, you can report them and have them fined.

    --
    Conor "You're not married,you haven't got a girlfriend and you've never seen Star Trek? Good Lord!" - Patrick Stewart
  12. Re: decided in or out of court? by Conor+Turton · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The article is self-contradictory as to whether the case was settled in or out of court.

    I'll assume you're not British and not familiar with Small Claims Courts. The company was found guilty. There was to be a later hearing to determine the amount of compensation awarded. The company offered a figure before the later hearing and the claimant accepted it.

    Also at Small Claims Court in the UK, if one of the parties doesn't turn up to the hearing, judgement is automatically awarded against them whether they're the claimant or the defendent. Which is bloody brilliant because it means that if a company in the South East of England screws me, I can take them to a local Small Claims Court, which is over 300 miles away from them, and if they don't turn up, I've won. If they don;t pay, I can then go back for a warrant, have bailiffs seize their property (at a cost of £100+ per time) and auction it, returning time and time again until not only is the judgement satisfied but the bailiffs fees too.

    --
    Conor "You're not married,you haven't got a girlfriend and you've never seen Star Trek? Good Lord!" - Patrick Stewart
  13. perfect, now the spammers will get their judgment by everdictdotorg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Its funny because internet brings new possibilities togather with a new threats like spam, content theft etc. Its fine if the law can fight against spam effectively, but ussually it can not(http://www.e-verdict.com/justice-system). The spammer can sit and perform its dirty job from some undeveloped country where no any civilized law will reach him. The same works with content theft. If the server is in some country which is free of normal laws, the thiefs will flourish... How can we fight this new technology issues efficiently and effectively? One think we can do for sure is to list all these people and organizations which are untrustable. Then the other people will know who they are dealing with.

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    www.e-verdict.com -> People's opinions and judgments