California takes spammers to court

The California Attorney General's office has issued the state's first anti-spam lawsuit.

The case against Los Angeles-based PW Marketing claims that the company violated the a statute banning unsolicited email, and engaged in deceptive advertising and unfair business competition.

According to news agency Reuters, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said that PW Marketing sent millions of illegal, unsolicited emails that advertised books, software and lists of email addresses as a way to make money.

He dubbed spam "the scourge of the information age".

PW Marketing failed to include a toll-free telephone number or valid email address for people to stop future emails, and did not include 'ADV' in the subject line to indicate that they were advertisements, according to the lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

The Attorney General's office is asking people in the state to forward samples of spam emails, and provides further information on its website at www.ag.ca.gov/spam/.

The company could be fined up to $2,500 for each violation, at least $2m, in civil penalties if convicted, according to the Attorney General's office.