Spamhaus to Appeal Illinois Ruling
Anti-spam group the Spamhaus Project has apparently had a change of heart and filed papers saying it will appeal an Illinois court ruling against it.
After ignoring the court on jurisdictional grounds, Spamhaus will reportedly appeal a recent $11.7 million judgment against it and a proposed order to shut Spamhaus’s domain down.
Judge Charles Kocoras last month issued a default judgment of $11.7 million against Spamhaus when the anti-spam group failed to show up to defend itself against a lawsuit brought by direct marketer E360 Insight.
E360 Insight argued that Spamhaus erroneously placed its IP addresses on the group’s blacklist, causing much of 360’s e-mail to fail to reach recipients.
Spamhaus maintains a list of IP addresses it deems as spammers that e-mail many inbox providers use to screen incoming mail.
Spamhaus had originally argued to have the lawsuit moved from state to federal court, and once the venue was switched, failed to show up and published statements saying it would only defend itself in a UK court.
When Spamhaus thumbed its nose at Kocoras’s ruling, the judge issued a proposed order for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and domain registrar Tucows to shut the Spamhaus domain down.
ICANN has issued a statement saying that if Kocoras signs the order it can’t comply. It is unclear how Tucows will respond.
