Monday, 18 September 2006

Spamhaus Fined USD 11.7 Mln; Won't Pay Alleged Spammer

Uk-based antispam organisation, Spamhaus, has been ordered by a US District court to pay sedition costs to e360insight, a marketing company it allegedly illegally blacklisted. The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered Spamhaus to pay e360insight and its CEO David Linhardt USD 11,715,000 in damages, and immediately remove his company from the blacklist. In addition, the group was ordered to publish an apology and acknowledge that Linhardt was not a spammer.

"e360insight has proven that Spamhaus routinely exposes their customers and volunteers to extreme legal risk by continuing to engage in illegal blacklisting, defamation, extortion and blackmail in the name of fighting Spam," the company said in a statement. It also invited other companies who have been targeted by Spamhaus to use the information and documents it provided on its web site in their own cases.

e360 Insight filed a suit against Spamhaus earlier this year after placed it was placed on ROKSO, Spamhaus’s blacklist of the 200 worst spammers. The suit was filed in the state of Illinois in the US. Spamhaus said it would not abide by the ruling, since American laws don’t hold good in the United Kingdom under British law, the company said. "Although meaningless for Spamhaus, which as a British organisation not subject to Illinois court orders is listing Linhardt's company E360 Insight on its SBL Spam blacklist as usual, the Illinois ruling shows that US courts can be bamboozled by spammers with ease," it said.