Antispam activists disagree about whether a $1.08 billion judgment against three spammers in Iowa last week will discourage others from sending unsolicited bulk e-mail.
Judge Charles Wolle, with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, awarded the money, believed to be the largest spam judgment ever, to Robert Kramer, owner of CIS Internet Services, an ISP (Internet service provider) based in Clinton, Iowa. Kramer accused the three companies of sending his 5000-customer ISP millions of pieces of spam between August and December 2003.
Wolle, using an Iowa antispam law and a U.S. racketeering law, ordered Cash Link Systems of Florida to pay Kramer $360 million; AMP Dollar Savings of Arizona to pay $720 million; and TEI Marketing Group of Florida to pay $140,000. The Iowa spam law allows damages of $10 per spam message sent, plus punitive damages.
Source: PC World
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