EarthLink Identifies and Sues Multi-State Spam Ring

Spammers in Florida, California, Tennessee, Michigan and Nevada Alleged to Have Sent Millions of Junk Emails ATLANTA, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EarthLink (Nasdaq: ELNK), one of the nation's leading Internet service providers, today announced legal action against a multi-state spam...

Spammers in Florida, California, Tennessee, Michigan and Nevada Alleged to Have Sent Millions of Junk Emails

ATLANTA, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — EarthLink (Nasdaq: ELNK), one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, today announced legal action against a multi-state spam ring in which 16 individuals and corporations sent out more than 250 million illegal junk emails. The lawsuit identifies alleged individuals and corporations in Florida (Orlando), California (Woodland Hills, Marina Del Rey, Valencia, Los Angeles), Tennessee (Medina), Michigan (Southfield) and Nevada (Las Vegas, Carson City).

According to an Amended Complaint filed February 17 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, the “Alabama Spammers” — so-called because of their frequent use of phone lines in and around Birmingham, Alabama — represent a technically sophisticated criminal organization that “engaged in a massive scheme of theft, spamming and spoofing.” The lawsuit alleges that the defendants used a
hierarchy of falsified names, false addresses and non-existent corporate entities to disguise the identities of individuals involved.

To further hide their identities, the defendants used spam emails to direct people to dynamically-hosted Web sites that would disappear after advertising a product. Common products advertised by the Alabama Spammers included Viagra(R), herbal supplements, adult matchmaking services and spam-for-hire services. Defendants named in the lawsuit include individuals listed as among the world’s largest spammers by ROKSO, the Register of Known Spam Operations, maintained by The Spamhaus Project, an anti-spam organization ( http://www.spamhaus.org ).

“Because spam imperils the integrity of the Internet, EarthLink is aggressively pursuing litigation, technical solutions, consumer education and legislative support to stop these intrusive and illegal emails,” said Karen Cashion, assistant general counsel for EarthLink. “Filing lawsuits against alleged spammers and seeking judgments that put them out of business is an important way that EarthLink helps preserve the Internet experience for all users.”

In its lawsuit, EarthLink is charging the defendants with violating federal and state laws, including federal and state civil RICO laws, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and the Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act. The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants used stolen or falsified credit cards, identity theft, banking fraud and other illegal activities to fraudulently purchase Internet accounts and send out their junk emails.

As in previous cases, EarthLink is asking for injunctive relief that will prevent the defendants from illegally spamming any Internet user, regardless of the user’s ISP. EarthLink is also seeking unspecified damages.

The case against the Alabama Spammers is the result of a year-and-a-half long investigation by EarthLink’s Abuse Team, led by Mary Youngblood, and Pete Wellborn, outside legal counsel for EarthLink. In late 2002, Youngblood noticed a spike in spam coming from phone lines in Birmingham, Alabama. Youngblood and her team determined that the spam originated from a single spammer or group of spammers, and in August 2003, EarthLink filed a lawsuit against “John Does” 1 - 25, aka the Alabama Spammers.

Wellborn’s investigation following the John Doe lawsuit led to EarthLink’s identification of the alleged spammers in the Amended Complaint filed February 17.