MySpace has been quick to make much fuss about this being a record payout, about it being the biggest judgement in a CAN-SPAM Act ruling yet. Fair play, at face value there does seem cause for celebration. Anything that helps take down the spammer scum has got to be good news, right?

Wrong.

Mainly because this judgement will do no such thing, MySpace might just as well have been awarded a billion bucks, or even a gazillion for that matter: they will never see a penny of it. Sanford ’spamford’ Wallace already owes millions in fines to other folk and so ordering him to compensate MySpace to the tune of $100 in damages for each and every spam message that was sent to its members is pointless. More so when you consider that he went to ground ages ago and, to para-phrase Gordon Ramsey there is as much chance “of Anthony Worrell Thompson getting a Michelin star” as there is of him coughing up the cash.

Still, the fact that Judge Collins issued an injunction against Spamford and his cohort in crime to prevent them from participating in similar spamming activity in future will do the trick though…

The truth is that Spamford is no stranger to lawsuits and court, I can recall him being sued by AOL and CompuServe way back in the 90’s as well as more recently being on the receiving end of a $4 million ruling. Why on earth would any successful spammer shut up shop when the sheer scale of the money they can make is obvious to everyone? we are not talking hundreds or thousands of pounds here, not even hundreds of thousands, but millions.

No, the only way to stop spam and put the spammers out of business is for YOU to stop reading the stuff, stop buying the products advertised and stop clicking on the links within.