| Kafka |
05-08-2003 04:16 PM |
$16 Mln Suit Against E-Mail Spammer
EarthLink Wins $16 Mln Suit Against E-Mail Spammer
Wed May 7, 2003 07:59 PM ET
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Amid rising consumer anger over unsolicited e-mail flooding into inboxes, a judge in New York granted Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. ELNK.O a $16.4 million judgment against a Buffalo, New York, spammer.
The U.S. government and companies increasingly go on the offensive against spam; e-mail that touts everything from consumer financing and online pornography to instant college degrees and get-rich-quick schemes.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Thrash granted EarthLink monetary damages and ruled that Howard Carmack, also known as the 'Buffalo Spammer,' would be prevented from ever again illegally spamming any Internet user, regardless of the user's Web service provider.
Carmack and his accomplices had used stolen credit cards, identity theft and banking fraud to create bogus e-mail accounts to send more than 825 million illegal spam e-mails since March 2002, the lawsuit said.
'Obtaining a judgment against a spammer like Carmack benefits all Internet users, and the judge's decision today is a significant victory against spam,' Karen Cashion, assistant general counsel for EarthLink, said in a statement.
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