Qwest landed in a bit of public-relations hot water last week when it was revealed that its terms of service for high-speed Internet access include a threat to charge customers $5 per spam e-mail sent from their computers, whether they

Qwest landed in a bit of public-relations hot water Monday when it was revealed that its terms of service for high-speed Internet access include a threat to charge customers $5 per spam e-mail sent from their computers, whether they’re aware of the spamming or not.

“You will pay Qwest’s actual damages in any way arising from, or related to, any spam transmitted by, or in any way connected to, you, to the extent that actual damages can be reasonably calculated,” says the recently changed 14-page agreement. “If actual damages cannot be calculated reasonably, you agree to pay Qwest liquidated damages of five U.S. dollars ($5.00) for each piece of spam transmitted from or otherwise connected with your account.”

Qwest’s spam policy was brought to light in an article on ARStechnica.com, which bills itself as a resource for PC enthusiasts. The news also sparked a lively debate on ARStechnica.com’s discussion board.

“So, according to these terms, if Qwest’s mail servers are infected and start sending spam in the names of its user list, you are then liable at $5 per for the actions of their infected server,” said one post on the discussion list. “I wonder if Qwest will go after you if, say, your grandmother’s PC gets infected and starts sending spam in the names of her grandchildren. And will they if she’s on Verizon DSL?”

A Qwest spokeswoman said the company evaluates whether to enforce its acceptable-use policy on a case-by-case basis.

The policy, which covers Qwest’s 1.3 million high-speed Internet customers, however, doesn’t say that computers affected by viruses are exempt.