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California ISP Sues Spammer and Wins
San Jose, CA, August 2, 1999 -- In one of the first cases of its kind, San Francisco Bay Area Internet service provider (ISP), Kepnet, took a spammer to court in order to recover damages and won. On July 29th, Los Gatos Small Claims Court awarded Kepnet $600 compensation plus court costs for damages caused by a spammer's unauthorized use of its network.
Kris Rallapalli, President of Kepnet, caught the spammer abusing his network by sending large quantities of unsolicited e-mail messages. By filing a suit in small claims court, Rallapalli took advantage of California Assembly Bill 1676, passed in the summer of 1998, which makes it easier for ISPs to collect damages from spammers.
"Our objective with the suit was simply to collect those damages that were tangible," Rallapalli said. "That is, the number of hours it took us to find the problem and minimize its adverse effect on the network. It didn't include potential harm to our reputation."
Until this new law took effect, ISPs had to bear the burden of costs associated with repairing network damage due to spammers, who send mass e-mail messages using an ISP's network facilities. This can cause jams and sometimes crash servers. The new law expands and clearly enumerates the list of prohibited advertising practices to include spamming, making such activity illegal and allowing significant punitive penalties.
"I hope that other ISPs in California will pursue this kind of action if they have spammers, too." Rallapalli said after the verdict. "Because now there is legal recourse they can take." Using small claims court expedited the process for Kepnet. "It was fast and inexpensive," added Rallapalli. "We didn't even need an attorney, and the judge's decision came back in just a few weeks."
Problem is, most ISPs won't sue. ISPs are in the business of providing IP connectivity, not suing spammers. Small ISPs don't generally have the money to bring about such suits in the first place, and large ISPs don't have the time to launch a dozen suits against every day's load of new dialup spammers.
What I want is something like the WA state law, which allows for a "private right of action" against the spammer. This allows the recipient of the spam, not the ISP, to sue. If the spammer doesn't show up in court to defend itself, a default judgement is entered against it, and the judgement can be sold off to a debt collection agency.
(Yes, if you live in Washington, that next spam could be worth up to $500! MAKE MONEY FAST!)
What's interesting about the WA state law is that most of the cases where people have collected $500 for being spammed haven't gone to court. Often, a demand letter in an amount less than $500 is all that's required, and the spammer, knowing it hasn't a hope in hell of winning in court, and wishing to avoid an encounter with the legal system, merely forks over the cash.
OK, that's the theory. Now the practice. Here's a guy in Washington, who sues spammers for fun. He's collected $3,900 to date.
If you live in Washington - go thou and do likewise.