Spam this!

After receiving over 6000 pieces of spam from Direct Marketing company Etracks, Californian law firm Morrison & Foerster has filed suit with the San Francisco Superior Court claiming $50 compensation per email, up to a maximum of $US 25,000 per

After receiving over 6000 pieces of spam from Direct Marketing company Etracks, Californian law firm Morrison & Foerster has filed suit with the San Francisco Superior Court claiming $50 compensation per email, up to a maximum of $US 25,000 per day.

According to this article, Morrison & Foerster received unsolicited bulk emails from Etracks ranging 'from adult material to office supplies'. Under Californian law, Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE, also known as spam) is illegal unless the receiver specifically requests said email, or there is a 'pre-existing business relationship' between the two entities involved.

Morrison and & Foerster also claim Etracks failed to adhere to the Californian law that specifies all UBE's must have the prefix 'ADV:' in their subject headers to designate them as advertisements.

According to Etracks' own Website, the company specialises in 'large-scale email broadcast', otherwise known as spam. The company also touts its ability to specifically target advertisements to relevant customers – something it abjectly failed to do in this case. Unless of course 'adult material' is a vital component of Morrison & Foerster's daily business – but we really do doubt that.

This is the first time California's anti-spam laws have been put to the test by a large corporation with the money and backing to push its case. Prior to now, all cases citing anti-spam laws were brought about by individuals and small business' going after relatively insignificant compensation.

According to Tom Geller, spokesman for the SpamCon Foundation, Morrison & Foerster stand to gain up to half a million US dollars if they win the case.