Did the judge go overboard? Where will this kid get 5 million dollars? A fine of 15,000 dollars would be enough.

000000000000000000000000000000

Christopher William Smith, of Prior Lake, Minn., was considered one of the world's worst spammers, operating under the name Rizler. He is now in jail in Minnesota awaiting trial on criminal charges that he violated federal drug laws while operating an online pharmacy.

On Tuesday U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton issued a summary judgment against Smith ordering him to pay $5.3 million in damages and $287,000 in legal fees to AOL, which filed a civil suit against Smith under the Can-Spam act.

AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said Smith "was the poster child for the Can-Spam Act," which Congress enacted in 2004 to crack down on unsolicited junk e-mail.

"This is someone we've been pursuing for three years," Graham said. "It's one of the largest judgments we've received."

Hilton issued a summary judgment in favor of Dulles-based AOL after Smith "refused to participate in this case, willfully disregarding ... discovery obligations and failing to comply with multiple court orders," according to the judge's order.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060126/..._pharmacy_spam

" A day in jail in lieu of every dollar owed " Is That Still in effect??

He should have been fined 20 million and sent to jail for life.

Nope, spammers should get death, no trial, no jury, no judge, one bullet. All it takes is one, done in public, then there would be no more spam.

And last time I checked, spammers make a shitload of money, I hope he has to actually work by getting a real job to pay most of that judgement off, he doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy.

But, way to go AOL. The spammer gets no sympathy from me.

But think about it folks, getting rid of spam is possible. In fact, it ludicrously easy. One simple rule which every single internet user the world over must obey; Never, ever, buy anything as a result of an email solicitation - ever.

What do you mean buy? Have to stop people from clicking on the links first, that's how most make money. Think of it as advertising, the spammer gets paid when you click on the link cause they simply referred you to the site.

From "When Harry Met Sally" - 'You're right, you're right - I know you're right.' Consider my suggestion suitably modified.

Trickykid has the true perspective!! Spamming should be labelled as a crime against humanity; and as with all such crimes that abuses our species, the punishment should be a very quick death.

I completely agree with that and the title of your post.

Where do you get the links from?