Read this this morning: Spam King dodges $20m big stick By John Leyden Published Wednesday 21st July 2004 14:25 GMT
Notorious spammer Scott Richter has been slapped on the wrist for the bulk mailing activities of his OptInRealBig business. But the $40,000 fine (plus $10,000 in "investigative costs") Richter will be obliged to pay in settling a lawsuit brought against him by the State of New York is more of a victory for the self-styled "Spam King" than his legal adversaries. NY State initially sought a $20m judgement against Richter but it has settled for peanuts. Richter wasn't even forced into admitting he'd done anything wrong. NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer does his best to portray the case as a legal victory against a "deceptive spammer" who allegedly used a network of 500 compromised computers to send millions of junk emails to hapless Hotmail users. Richter (through his lawyer, Steve Richter, who's also his father) denies any such wrongdoing. In return for being let of the hook, Richter Junior has agreed to follow existing laws that ban deceptive email and to keep copies of his bulk mail for inspection by the State of New York. "I'm very pleased," Richter told the New York Times about the settlement, as well he might. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/21/spam_king_gets_off_lightly/
