Back to Cases Page The following is the press release in the flowers.com spamming case. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Judgement Against Spammer For Immediate Release 11 November, 1997, Austin, Texas In a Travis County District Court yesterday, Judge Suzanne Covington granted judgement against California spammer Craig Nowak. Nowak, who did not appear at this Austin, Texas hearing, was ordered to pay more than $13,000 in actual damages and $5,000 in attorney's fees, and forbidden to engage in similar spam activities in the future. Successful plaintiffs in the suit were Patrick and Tracy LaQuey Parker, owners of the flowers.com domain used without permission by Nowak in a large scale unsolicited commercial electronic mailing, their business partner Peter Rauch, and Zilker Internet Park, the Parkers' Internet Service Provider, whose operations were shut down for several hours due to flowers.com mail volume generated by Nowak's actions. Two Internet organizations, Texas ISP Association (TISPA) and EFF- Austin, participated on behalf of their members. The plaintiffs were represented by Pete Kennedy and Roger Williams, attorneys with George, Donaldson & Ford. Information on the topic is maintained at: <URL:http://www.zilker.net/nospam/>. One of the principals of Zilker Internet Park (since sold) is John S. Quarterman, president of MIDS, who has written several articles against spam, including ``Spam Considered Harmful'' and one about this lawsuit; both articles and copious other anti-spam information are available through <URL:http://www.mids.org/nospam/> Quarterman says, ``I hope this judgement sets a precedent that spamming is actionable and judges will decide against it. Nonetheless, it is still up to we the users and builders of the Internet to stamp out spam.'' Plaintiffs: Tracy LaQuey Parker and Patrick Parker, 512-454-7748 pparker@zilker.net Zilker Internet Park Smoot Carl-Mitchell, 512-451-6176, http://www.tic.com/ John Quarterman, 512-451-7602, http://www.mids.org/, support@mids.org TISPA Gene Crick, Texas Internet Service Providers Association, 512-303-1021, http://www.tispa.org/ EFF-Austin Jon Lebkowsky, EFF-Austin, 512-477-5566 ext 171 (day) or 512-444-5175 (eve), http://www.eff-austin.org/ Jon Lebkowsky, EFF-Austin, 512-477-5566 ext 171 (day) or 512-444-5175 (eve), http://www.eff-austin.org/ Law Firm: Peter Kennedy or Roger Williams George, Donaldson & Ford, L.L.P., 512-495-1400, http://www.gdf.com/ Comments: Send e-mail to spamsuit@zilker.net General Anti-Spam Resources: http://www.mids.org/nospam/ Back to Cases Page