Originally published February 6 2006
CIS awarded $11.2 billion in spammer lawsuit
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
ISP has been awarded $11.2 billion in a judgment against James McCalla and other defendants for sending more than 280 million spam email messages to CIS email accounts. McCalla is banned from using the internet for three years.
A US-based ISP has been awarded $11.2bn (£6.38bn) in a judgement against a Florida spammer who sent millions of unsolicited emails to its users.
The damages were awarded to CIS Internet Services, according to a the report by Associated Press.
Robert Kramer, the owner of CIS, filed a lawsuit against James McCalla and other defendants in 2003 claiming that more than 280 million spam email messages were sent to CIS email accounts.
The emails advertised mortgages, debt consolidation services, pornographic and gambling Web sites.
The judgement, given by US District Judge Charles R. Wolle on 23 December, 2005, also prohibits McCalla from accessing the Internet for three years.
"I'm pleased with Judge Wolle's ruling," said Kramer.
"It's a victory for every email user and every responsible ISP.
Antivirus company Sophos welcomed the size of the award against the spammer, even though there are doubts that Kramer will actually collect the money.
"Spam is not just a nuisance for individual computer users who find their inboxes clogged up with unwanted mail, but for ISPs who are hit in the pocket by having to pay for the bandwidth to deliver and store hundreds of millions of messages."
Kramer previously won $1bn against Cash Link Systems of Florida, AMP Dollar Savings of Arizona, and TEI Marketing Group of Florida as part of the same suit.
Anti-spam legislation in the US began to bite late last year.
Spammer Peter Moshou pleaded guilty in June to violating the US Can-Spam Act after EarthLink sued him in January.
No such fines have been imposed in the UK.
But late last year a businessman struck the first legal blow against spammers when he was awarded £270 damages from a Web marketing firm.
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