Spamhaus "loses" $11 million judgment

UK antispam blacklist Spamhaus has been successfully sued for more than $11 million in the US by someone it calls a spammer.

The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ordered Spamhaus to hand over the cash to e360insight and its chief, David Linhardt. The court barred Spamhaus from causing any e-mail sent by e360insight or Linhardt to be "blocked, delayed, altered, or interrupted in anyway" Spamhaus also has to publish an apology for that states that Linhardt and his company are not spammers.

However Spamhaus didn't show up for the court hearing because despite claims that Britain is the 51st state of the US, it really isn't. In such cases the court issues a default judgement.

According to the Spamhaus site, Lindhart would have to bring a suit in the UK if it wanted to shut down its blacklisting service. He apparently knew this when he started the case, but seemed uninterested in trying to run up against British justice.

Spamhaus's message is 'come on if you are man enough' and show up in a UK court Mr Spammer. Spamming is illegal in the UK. An Illinois court ordering a British organisation to stop blocking incoming Illinois spam in Britain goes contrary to UK law which orders all spammers to cease sending spam in the first place, they say.

As for an apology, Spamhaus is still calling e360insight a spam outfit and Linhardt a spammer and will continue to do so. So Nerr. µ

L'INQ
News.com