RSSBritish Man Successfully Sues Spammer
By Ed Oswald | Published December 29, 2005, 1:20 PM
It what is believed to be the first successful suit to seek damages against a spammer for sending junk mail, a British man has won monetary compensation for his troubles. The suits are allowed under new European laws that allow junk e-mailers to be sued for sending unwanted e-mails.
Nigel Roberts of the Channel Islands, a group of British-controlled isles off the north coast of France, sued Media Logistics UK, which is based in Stirlingshire, England. The company has agreed to pay Roberts 270 pounds (USD $465) to settle the case.
Roberts, who owns an Internet business, began receiving e-mails promoting a contract car services and a fax broadcasting business. Tired of receiving the unwanted mail, Roberts took action under the relatively new anti-spam statute.
Media Logistics acknowledged the claim and did not contest it, allowing the judge to rule in favor of Roberts. By keeping his suit under 300 pounds, the case was allowed to be decided in British small claims court.
"This may be a tiny victory but perhaps now spammers will begin to realise that people don't have to put up with their e-mail inboxes being filled with unwanted junk," Roberts told the BBC.
The judge should have also given the idiot spammer a little bit more of a lesson and gave him/her a few months/years in the slammer just for good measure.
There's no place in my heart for spammers.
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|If I could sue spammers in the USA like this I would be rich. I get 150-200 spam e-mails per day.
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|Well you will find that most spammers are the same source. The domains may be different, but the content is similar, and they all come from the same spammers basically. 150-200 individual emails, but probably only about 20 spammers.. They change their domain so you can block 1 or 2, but not all.. That's where the problem comes in.
They will just purchase a new domain, we need the cooperation of ALL the ISPs to keep them from sending out, that's how we stop spam.
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|Oh shi.
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|Thats okay, compared to what I get. One of my Yahoo accounts (1gb of space) takes just a few days to fill up with junk.
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|Reported by the Sun Sentinel News in Ft. Lauderdale last year, 80% of the world's spamming comes from a one mile stretch of commercial business in Boca Raton, Florida.
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|This is just the sort of thing we need. We need the ability to sue all the spammers and any ISP that supports them. The fines need to large and the proceeds need to go to the individuals harmed by spammers and a portion to legislation to erradicate spammers.
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|This is actually a really good thing for UK people. When you can sue a company for spamming you, just enough to pay for a good spam filter...problem solved. =)
I predict a boom in the number of Spam Filter programs! :D
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|What a great attitude. Unfortunately, if spam continues it is also because there is a market. May those answering *spam* email realize exactly what they are doing: participating to a world-wide trash business. No customer, no business.
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|I believe you mean no "bid-ness." Sorry. Felt like being black.
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|how did they come in a conclusion with the amount?
this wont stop any spammer on sending more spam he probably just left court laughing with the ability to spam more people with only a small amount to pay compared to large amount he makes from spamming.
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|True, but if this spreads...imagine if you have 10,000 people doing this? It isn't so profitable anymore, is it?
Now, if you get a million people out there suing spammers....?
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|I wonder where US law stands on taking spammers to small claims court....
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|"how did they come in a conclusion with the amount?"
Claims at a Small Claims court have a limit.
It costs very little to take someone to Small Claims Court and you don't need representation. Also if either party fails to turn up, that party automatically loses.
For the price of a few beers, he was in effect able to test the law without incurring large costs.
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|This is a heart-warming story, and it reinforces the new law by adding a test case victory that future cases can call upon.
For anyone wanting to know more about the Small Claims Court, the BBC has a very nice intro:
www.bbc.co.uk/crime/law/smallclaimscourt.shtml
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|Interesting read. In the US though, isn't it limitted to $3000 or something? Or perhaps that's just the ones on TV?
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|There is not a theorhetical limit to small claims court, but the thing is you can't bring a huge suit against someone in the first place.. I have seen over $10,000 awarded in small claims, so it may be by state the limits that are imposed.
So even though you are limited to a smaller claim, you could walk away with a large settlement, if the judge thinks you deserve it.
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|Good, we bankrupt them.. I don't see a problem there. I don't care if I get a single dime from spammers, I just want it stopped!!!!
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|Let's TORCH THEIR HOMES! Beat their children with paddles, and execute them in front of the mothers!
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|That's a bit more extreme than bankrupting a company.
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|Cool!
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|way to go
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|Wow, recently I've been getting 40+ junk emails a day. I could use a few hundred $$$ :D
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|Don't count on it.. This is the UK, not USA. Even if you could take them to court, after fees and lawyers, you will be lucky to break even.
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|I don't think there are any laws yet on it... But we are heading in that direction. We took care of the phone spam first (telemarketers), next step is the computer spammers.
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