Portrait of a Lawyer Turned Anti-Spammer
Ryan Burns of the North Coast Journal profiled Asis Internet, a long-time anti-spam crusader who ultimately closed up shop. (Previous post: "The Rise and Fall of a Spam Plaintiff.") The AP takes it turn on this topic, this time profiling Dan Balsam, a lawyer turned anti-spam crusader: "Man quits job, makes living suing e-mail spammers." (Balsam says the scourge of spam inspired him to go to law school.)
The AP's piece mentions the millions of dollars in judgments racked up by Balsam. However, it doesn't answer the critical question of what percentage of those judgments he actually collects on? Nor does the article mention Balsam's recent loss in the 9th Circuit, where he tried to hold a registrar and its privacy protection services liable for a million dollar judgment. (See "Domain Name Privacy Protection Services Not Liable for Failure to Disclose Identity of Alleged Spammer.")
In fact, this is something I've been curious about for a long time. Companies and individuals have been awarded millions in (often default) judgments against spammers. How much of these judgments have actually been realized? Inquiring minds want to know!
(h/t Eric Goldman)
The AP's piece mentions the millions of dollars in judgments racked up by Balsam. However, it doesn't answer the critical question of what percentage of those judgments he actually collects on? Nor does the article mention Balsam's recent loss in the 9th Circuit, where he tried to hold a registrar and its privacy protection services liable for a million dollar judgment. (See "Domain Name Privacy Protection Services Not Liable for Failure to Disclose Identity of Alleged Spammer.")
In fact, this is something I've been curious about for a long time. Companies and individuals have been awarded millions in (often default) judgments against spammers. How much of these judgments have actually been realized? Inquiring minds want to know!
(h/t Eric Goldman)
An interesting not about spam that I just learned as a small business owner. Apparently this blogger claims that there's such thing as legal spam: http://lawblog.legalmatch.com/2010/08/17/how-cyberlaw-differentiates-legal-spam-from-illegal-spam/
Is there any validity to that blogger's position?
Reply to this
Roughly speaking, yes. It does make sense to differentiate between spam (an unwanted communication) and spam that violates the law (an unwanted communication that is misleading or sent after an opt-out request).
The law does not ban all unsolicited communications.
Reply to this