 | |||||
|
| |||||
|
| DownUnder | July 2002 |
|
| Alleged Spammer Sues Australian Man Who Complained By Ian McPherson Sometimes, a legal issue can threaten the freedoms we take for granted. In this case, a worldwide legal first, Perth businessman and alleged spammer Wayne Mansfield has sued an individual, Joey McNichol, for allegedly causing AUD$137,500 financial damage to his e-mail marketing company, by complaining to SPEWS, an anti-spam web organization. Joey has defended his actions, and has posted evidence of Mr. Mansfield's alleged spam activities here. In his proposed settlement, Mr. Mansfield wants new IP No's, a new server, a new e-mail delivery system, and business damages due to loss of profits, plus interest. Unfortunately for Wayne Mansfield and his company T3, SPEWS do not act solely on complaints. The organization performs independent tests to establish whether spamming exists, and SPEWS' were obviously satisfied that Mansfield's company had engaged in spamming, as they decided to list the company's IP No's on its website. SPEWS were not the only organization to reach this conclusion. Mansfield's own ISP, Swiftel, dumped the T3 account after it became clear that spamming was occurring. Mind you, Swiftel only acted after they discovered that they too were being placed on international "block lists" because of their association with Mansfield's company. Not the bravest of motives, really :) Incredibly, it was then revealed that an employee of Mansfield's company had obtained the company's IP No's from a Perth Christian Education Centre, and was using them illegally and without permission. This made the legal situation particularly ironic, because Mansfield's legal case was based on the company's IP No's being blocked! Quite a kidder, our Mr. Mansfield. Unfortunately, Joey McNichol is not so easily entertained. Mansfield has not dropped the case against Joey, and appears to have every intention of pursuing this claim, undoubtedly because most of the anti-spam web organizations are now onto him. Indeed, it is likely that he will again be "black-listed" if he is seen by the anti-spam organizations to be sending bulk unsolicited e-mail under the same company name. The anti-spam community has swung strongly behind Joey in this matter, which is admirable given the importance of the case, but I doubt that many of them will lose as much sleep as Joey, who stands a very real chance of losing his life's savings. A legal fighting fund has been established, and you can help by donating at:
As I write this, it appears that Joey's website is "off the air", which may indicate that Mr. Mansfield's "legal eagles" have managed to silence Joey on the web, possibly with a threatened defamation action. If the previous link still refuses connections, try these links instead:
I don't know how you feel about this, but Joey McNichol only wanted to get off Wayne Mansfield's e-mail list, a list he had never asked to be on. When he tried to have himself removed from the list, by following the e-mail instructions, the e-mails were "bounced". When he tried to call and have himself removed, he only made it as far as an answering machine. Then, when he wrote a letter to the company, he received only an e-mail in response. Removing himself from the T3 list proved to be so difficult that Joey was left with little alternative but to complain to a spam prevention organization. Now he is legal hot water, and may lose his life's savings. You could easily be Joey, and this story could easily be yours. Mr. Mansfield's lawyers have just been granted 14 days to prepare a revised statement of claim against Joey, and the next hearing in the case is expected to be set later this week. In my opinion, this is an extremely important legal issue, as it may open the door for more abusive litigation of this type. If you'd like to help Joey, and do a little about the spam which threatens to engulf us all, make a donation or simply subscribe to the newsletter, at . . . http://www.joefightsspam.org/ Unlike Mr. Mansfield, who appears to make it extremely difficult to unsubscribe from his lists, you can unsubscribe from Joey's newsletter at any time :) More reading: Many thanks to Mic Miller at the Beeline for sending me the original Wired link. Mic is one of the few men on earth who gets even more spam than me :) See you all in the next issue! Ian McPherson |
