INTERNET SPAMMER FINED $250,000

(Dayton, OH) Here's a story by Jim DeBrosse reporting for the Dayton Daily News. It concerns a judgment in the State of Washington on an Internet spammer living in Ohio.

Charles F. Childs, Dayton's premier bulk e-mailer, has lost a $250,000 lawsuit filed by a determined anti-spammer in Washington, where tough state laws ban unsolicited e-mail.

Nigel Featherston, 57, of Redmond, Wash., now must try to collect from Childs and business partner Linda Lightfoot.

�What's the possibility of getting money from a rock?� Childs said Thursday. "Mr. Featherston has just as much chance of getting money out of me."

Featherston spent $10,000 for an attorney and private investigator in his quest against Childs, Lightfoot and their corporate personae: Universal Direct, Mega Direct, Mega Success and Ultra Trim 2002.

He said he would enforce his King County Superior Court judgment, issued last week, even though that will cost him thousands more.

The Washington anti-spam law, enacted in 1988, fines spammers $500 for each unsolicited e-mail. Pretty hefty. I wonder if it will catch on in other states.

As for collecting judgments from out-of-state, that used to be a problem with deadbeat dads evading payment by crossing into another state. So many states complained that Congress passed legislation to allow deadbeats to be arrested anywhere.