Florida spammers sue anti-spam groups

Seeks damages in excess of $75,000,000.00

[pendanticist]

[theregister.co.uk...]

Linford believes 90 per cent of the world's spam is down to 180 recidivist spammers [spamhaus.org]. Deal with them and you've cracked the spam problem, he believes.

Pendanticist.

[georgeek]

Excellent news! There is no doubt that the defendants will counter sue and as the article hints, during the discovery phase of the case, request documents of the plaintiff that will open a can of worms. Looks to me like spammers have picked up a rope to hang themselves with :) cheers out loud...

[Hagstrom]

> Seeks damages in excess of $75,000,000.00

According to the article it's $75,000 (but that does sound surprisingly low for an American trial).

[georgeek]

In the link quoted above (The Register) it says...

Quote: "It also seek damages of $75 million (plus interest and costs) against the defendants."

[Marketing Guy]

>"If these 180 were somehow spirited off internet - we'd be left with the Nigerians, and companies spamming by mistake. The spam problem would simply disappear," he said.

Good news, but I think the Nigerian comment is bordering on being racist.

Granted, there are a substantial amount of "Nigerian" scams, but no doubt many of them are run by non-Nigerians, and to tar an entire country with the same brush isn't fair.

And the chances of keeping these individuals off the Internet and that having an impact on spam is pretty minimal.

But on the upside, if some of the main players can be taken out, it may act as a deterant to others.

Scott

[Mike_Mackin]

These people will just move off shore and continue their spam.

[pendanticist]

My Ooops! Couldn't change subject header and forgot to make notation in post.

Pendanticist.

[georgeek]

Granted, there are a substantial amount of "Nigerian" scams, but no doubt many of them are run by non-Nigerians, and to tar an entire country with the same brush isn't fair.

Seems fair to me - the "Nigerian Scams" which have been around long before the Internet are a major industry in Nigeria itself. These are known locally as 419s after section 419 of the Criminal Code Act, Chapter 77, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. This is the section that deals with "Obtaining goods by false pretences" and are often perpetrated with the collusion of government officials.

It is estimated that these scams are Nigeria's third largest industry but anyone who has been there, as I have, will tell you that is likely to be an underestimate.

And the chances of keeping these individuals off the Internet and that having an impact on spam is pretty minimal.

I agree.

[Marketing Guy]

That's a fair point Georgeek, but I just thought the way the phrase, "left with Nigerians" was used instead of "left with Nigerian scams" was a bit off.

It's a small point and I doubt anyone is likely to take offence from it, but i just thought i would point it out. :)

An analogy could be to football (soccer) fan violence during the World Cup.

It could be argued that English fans had a large part to play in that violence.

However, if the rest of the world refered to those who caused the trouble as "the English", then there would be an outrage. Therefore "English football hooligans" was the phrase of choice, as it doesn't reflect on the nation as a whole.

Scott

[pendanticist]

For those who feel there is no way to stop, or stem the flow of UCE/SPAM on the Internet, might I suggest reading msg#7 [webmasterworld.com]?

Only inactivity spawns inaction.

Pendanticist.