Businessman wins e-mail spam case Options

[praveen]

A businessman has won what is believed to be the first victory of its kind by claiming damages from a company which sent him e-mail spam.

Nigel Roberts, who lives in Alderney in the Channel Islands, took action against Media Logistics UK over junk e-mails in his personal account.

Under new European laws, companies can be sued for sending unwanted e-mails.

The Stirlingshire-based firm has agreed to pay £270 compensation to Mr Roberts, who runs an internet business.

'Tiny victory'

Three years ago the EU passed an anti-spam law, the directive on privacy and telecommunications, which gave individuals the right to fight the growing tide of unwanted e-mail by allowing them to claim damages.

Mr Roberts received unwanted e-mail adverts for a contract car firm and a fax broadcasting business and decided to take action against the company.

The company filed an acknowledgement of the claim at Colchester County Court but did not defend it and a judge ruled in favour of Mr Roberts.

In an out-of-court agreement Media Logistics agreed to pay Mr Roberts damages of £270 plus his £30 filing fee.

Mr Roberts said he had limited his claim to a maximum of £300 in order to qualify to file it as a small claim.

He said: "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."

No-one from Media Logistics UK was available for comment.

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office, the watchdog who oversees the Data Protection Act, said it was the first case of its kind he had heard of.

He said: "What I can say is that I haven't heard of anyone doing so and we haven't taken a case under that legislation."

Source :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/4562726.stm

[EGOL]

I hope that more and more of these cases are successful against the spammers.

[Nadir]

Yes, everyone hopes that spammers get knocked down, but I believe it's actually pretty hard. Spammers are companies that have legal backup, I,
m sure they work with the best lawyers around before starting spam campaigns.
Here is what I found in a junk email (and it's typical):
'This newsletter is a commercial message sent in accordance with US
legal guidlines.'

One of the major cause of spam is the famous "I accept terms and conditions" when you sign-up for a service online but no one really takes time to read that, and that's where it is stated that you allow them to share your email address to receive information from "partners". So, action should first be taken against these laws that allow companies to share personal information with others.

[meriweather]

Thanks for the info Praveen. It's a start.

I suspect that like the million dollar a day fine that Microsoft was paying for awhile, it's just a drop in the bucket compared to the profits being made. Still, if for nothing other than the principle, I think it's a good thing that a court has taken a stand on the issue.

One of the major cause of spam is the famous "I accept terms and conditions" when you sign-up for a service online

Good point Nadir, but from what I've seen those generally have some sort of opt out clause in them, whether they work or not. I think the majority of the addresses are scraped from websites, and other E-mail related means.

I haven't heard of a case in the US yet. Will check on it and get back.

[Nadir]

For those who have time investigating into laws regarding spams, I found this website http://www.spamlaws.com/ . It gives you some laws related to unsolicited emails but also judiciary cases around spam. It is not an official site but it presents interesting information.

[I, Brian]

It's interesting to note that the guy specifically made a point to keep the claims under £300 for small claims settlement - my impression of the UK anti-spam laws is that filing a larger claim would have been very difficult and expensive, and that e-mail spam is not yet faced with proper practical restrictions in the UK.

[I, Brian]

Maybe my cynicism is misplaced - the guy who won the case has a site online where he's trying to help others do the same:

http://spamlegalaction.co.uk