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AOL and Microsoft Put New Spam Legislation to Use
American Online Inc. (“AOL”) won its first case under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (known as “CAN-SPAM Act”), which came in force in January 2004. The CAN-SPAM Act enables companies to seek statutory damages of $100 for each spam complaint from a customer, and to seize assets of spammers when recovering damages. AOL obtained a $13 million judgment against a prominent spam gang, whose actions led to 130,000 complaints to AOL about unsolicited mail. So far one of the members of the spam gang has agreed to surrender cash, gold and a Hummer H2, which AOL says it will give to its subscribers through a free raffle on its site.
Microsoft Corp. settled another major spam action against one of the world's top three spammers, who has agreed to pay the company $7 million. The company plans to reinvest all of this money into increasing Internet enforcement efforts and expanding technical support to law enforcers for computer-related crimes.
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