http://www.freep.com/browsing/internet/qagis1.htm
October 1, 1997
BY MIKE BRENNAN Free Press Business Writer
A Dearborn Internet company must put the Web's largest creator of electronic junk mail back on line, at least for the next two weeks, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
But Cyber Promotions must post a $12,500 bond to pay for any potential damage to Apex Global Internet Services' (AGIS) computer network from net users opposed to bulk electronic advertising, U.S. District Judge Anita Brody said in her ruling in Philadelphia.
Cyber Promotions had been sending daily millions of unsolicited electronic ads for everything from get-rich-quick schemes to sexually explicit Web sites.
Sept. 16, AGIS pulled the plug on Cyber after three AGIS central switching stations were shut down by a flood of electronic signals from Web surfers opposed to junk E-mail.
Brody ruled AGIS' contract with Cyber Promotions requires a 30-day notice before service could be terminated.
So, she said, AGIS must reinstate Cyber Promotions through Oct. 16, or until the junk E-mailer gets connected through another Internet service provider.
AGIS President Phillip Lawlor said he was disappointed with Brody's decision because he feels she did not hear all the evidence. He contends he may still disconnect Cyber Promotions without notice because of the electronic attacks against his network and because the company also used AGIS' network to counterattack its Web enemies.
He asked that anti-bulk E-mail forces end the warfare against AGIS because of the court order. "The court has spoken," Lawlor said. "We need to honor our connectivity contract to Cyber Promotions."
Lawlor said he now regrets his decision to give Cyber Promotions and several other bulk E-mailers -- called spammers in Net jargon -- a home. But he said he took his actions to help create a code of ethics for bulk E-mailers.
Now he would welcome federal legislation blocking the use of the Internet to companies that send unsolicited bulk E-mail to Web surfers who don't want to receive them.
"I would like some law I can enforce," he said. "I don't consider myself an anti-spammer, just a large backbone provider burdened with the task of protecting the Internet."
Cyber Promotions President Sanford Wallace could not be reached for comment.
Not addressed in the judge's ruling was Cyber Promotions' contention that the First Amendment guarantees its right to send all the E-mail it wants.
"Under the law, it is improper to consider the nature of the activities of Cyber," Brody wrote in a footnote. "This includes my strong personal distaste for Cyber's business."
Brody said the public interest "tips towards the issuance of a preliminary injunction, although it is undisputed that Cyber's business ... is a controversial one.
"However, the fact that Cyber is an unpopular citizen of the Internet does not mean that Cyber is not entitled to have its contracts enforced in a court of law or that Cyber is not entitled to such injunctive relief as any similarly situated business," Brody ruled.