JURIST - Paper Chase: Florida files $24M spam lawsuit

[JURIST] The Florida Attorney General's office [official website] has filed its first lawsuit under the state's new anti-spam law [statute text, PDF]. Civil suits seeking up to $24 million in fines were filed Monday [complaint text, PDF] against Scott Filary, 25, and Donald Townsend, 34, who are accused of masterminding a spam operation which sent over 65,000 deceptive e-mails. Under the state law, violators face a penalty of up to $500 for every illegal e-mail message they send to Florida residents. The Attorney General thanked Microsoft for helping to track down the spammers. Microsoft used dummy Hotmail accounts to track the spam campaigns. Microsoft's anti-spam team has also helped law enforcement initiate suits in New York, Texas, and Washington. Read Monday's statement statement from Florida's Attorney General. CNET has more.

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