$1bn lawsuit targets Web crawlers

E-Brief News reports that Unspam Technologie, a Utah-based anti-spam provider, has filed a federal lawsuit against anonymous parties who collect addresses from Web sites and other lists, which they then sell to spammers. The suit was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia under the federal CAN-SPAM law and the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, which is the state\'s anti-spam statute. This marks the first time that harvesters have been targeted in a legal action and the billion-dollar suit is already turning heads. The Jurist site reports that collecting e-mail addresses is not illegal, but using that information to spam is prohibited under federal and state laws. The complaint, filed by Project Honey Pot (PHP) on behalf of tens of thousands of members in more than 100 countries, targets those who operate the spiders that crawl endlessly throughout the web in search of e-mail addresses. ‘If you\'ve harvested e-mail addresses or sent spam in the last two years, chances are you\'re on our radar screen and we\'re coming after you,’ PHP officials warned on their Web site. The Channel Register reports that the suit names unidentified John Does as defendants. Lawyers plan to use the power of the subpoena to force ISPs to divulge the identities of the individuals who control the IP addresses tracked by PHP. PHP is being represented by Jon Praed of the Internet Law Group, who has successfully represented AOL and Verizon spammers. The Washington Post reports that the Virginia Court has been the venue of choice for a number of previously successful anti-spam cases filed by some of the world\'s largest ISPs. But this is thought to be the first anti-spam case brought by a class of Internet users not affiliated with any single Internet service provider. \'This isn\'t just some (Internet service provider) trying to get good press, this is a community of Internet users saying we\'re sick and tired of this and we want it to stop,\' said Matthew Prince, Unspam\'s CE. Full report on the Jurist site Full Channel Register report Full Washington Post report

For all the excitement the suit has generated, the ultimate end may be somewhat deflating for the plaintiffs, as well as supporters of anything anti-spam – which is, to say, most of the population. It may be difficult to identify the perpetrators, warned Peter Vogel, a partner with Gardere Wynne Sewell, especially if they are one link removed from the spam itself. ‘What are the chances that they will be able to get these names? Not very good,’ he told the E-Commerce Times. TechNewsWorld.com reports that according to the court filing, Unspam is focusing its complaint on the 6.1m spam messages PHP received over a 16-month period starting in January 2005. ‘We recognise that one lawsuit won\'t stop spam,’ Praed said, ‘but this is a different take on one of the many data points that spammers use in their operation.’ Full TechNewsWorld.com report