Spammer ordered to pay $2600 for one email

Edinburg (Scotland) - A 30-year-old Scotsman sued the sender of a single spam message and received more than $2600 in court.

Gordon Dick, an online marketing specialist, sued Transcom Internet Services for the unsolicited e-mail. He won the suit, citing the European Union Data Protection Act. According to Dick, the company took his e-mail address from an online forum without his consent and then added him to a bulk e-mail list.

In his successful civil case against Transcom, Dick was awarded $1445 in damages and $1190 in court costs. "If someone was throwing stones through your window, would you just ignore it ?" Dick was quoted as saying in an Associated Press story. Transcom denied any wrongdoing, saying that Dick’s e-mail was "accidentally" added to the message send list.

Transcom argued that there were no financial damages, but the argument was not strong enough for the court to let the company off the hook. Dick has set up a website for recipients of spam on how to fight the senders in court.