I love that specific dollar penalty...right down to the penny! Would be fun to see the accounting breakdown of that total.

Goodin was found guilty of violating the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 on January 12, 2007.

"The jury found that Goodin sent thousands of e-mails through an Earthlink Internet connection to America Online users that appeared to be from AOL’s billing department. The e-mails prompted the AOL customers to “update” their personal and credit card information on phony AOL webpages that Goodin controlled. Goodin then used his victims’ personal and credit card information to make unauthorized credit card purchases. It cost Earthlink nearly $1 million to detect and combat Goodin’s phishing schemes. After being indicted on federal charges in the phishing scheme, Goodin harassed an individual who had cooperated with authorities by posting intimidating messages to a website commemorating the death of the cooperator’s sister."

"In addition to the CAN-SPAM Act conviction, Goodin was sentenced on 10 other counts, including wire fraud, aiding and abetting the unauthorized use of an access device (credit card), possession of more than 15 unauthorized access devices, aggravated identity theft, misuse of the AOL trademark, attempted witness harassment and failure to appear in court."

Goodin is the first person to ever be convicted by a jury under CAN-SPAM.

The Ontario Police Department and the Electronic Crimes Task Force, comprised of the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, investigated the case.

Could your organization be found guilty of CAN-SPAM noncompliance? Most of the marketers in organizations are not aware of this law, and most marketers also continue to regularly send email messages to everyone possible.

If you don't know what your marketing and sales folks are doing with regard to email campaigns, it would be a good idea to have a chat with them or lunch meeting to discuss this. Let them know about the requirements for allowing your consumers to opt-out of receiving your email messages, and the importance of keeping track of consumer requests.