A US-based I.S.P. (Internet Service Provider) has been awarded £6.5 billion (Lm4 billion) in a judgment against a Florida man who sent millions of unsolicited spam e-mails.
Robert W. Kramer, owner of CIS Internet Services in Iowa, filed a lawsuit against Florida-based James McCalla claiming that more than 280 million illegal spam messages were sent to CIS e-mail accounts advertising mortgages, debt consolidation services, pornographic and gambling Websites.
The judgment, handed down by US District Judge Charles R. Wolle on December 23, also prohibits McCalla from accessing the Internet for three years.
"This judgment against a spammer is undoubtedly the biggest we have ever heard of," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said.
"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."
Mr Kramer said that he thought it was unlikely that he would ever see any of the judgment money.
"I'm pleased with Judge Wolle's ruling," Mr Kramer said in a statement. "It's a victory for every e-mail user and every responsible ISP. It's proof our courts and Congress are committed to protecting the public."
John de Giorgio, managing director of Shireburn Co Ltd, local distributors for Sophos, agreed with Mr Kramer that it was highly unlikely that the fine would ever get paid.
"This is more of a moral judgment," he told The Sunday Times last week. "It's more the message that's important."
Spam e-mails have a double negative effect, he pointed out. Apart from the productivity implications, wasting the receiver's time and taking up space on servers, he said spamming also had security implications since spam could also lead to the passing of software viruses.
"It is estimated that 50 per cent of e-mail traffic on the Internet is spam," Mr de Giorgio affirmed. He appealed to local Internet users to ensure that any e-mails they sent conformed with Maltese legislation, which includes clear identification of the sender's physical address and an opt-out so that the receivers can refuse to receive any more e-mails for the sender, should they wish.
Asked whether Maltese legislation is up to European Union standards, he said that it was very up to date. "All local e-commerce legislation and the legislative infrastructure are very much up to scratch," he said.