A district court in Atlanta on Wednesday awarded EarthLink $16 million in damages against a New York state man that it alleged used illegal means to send out more than 825 million unsolicited e-mail messages.

The court also permanently banned the defendant from spamming and from a host of other activities related to it, such as distributing mass e-mail software and selling e-mail addresses, according to Pete Wellborn, outside legal counsel for EarthLink and the company's lead litigator in the spam case.

In a statement Wednesday morning EarthLink said that a ring led by one Howard Carmack obtained Internet accounts using stolen credit cards, identity theft and bank fraud, then used those accounts to send out reams of spam.

Carmack could not be reached for comment.

Carmack used the accounts of family members, including a brother, and those of third parties to mask his activities, sending out by-now familiar spam e-mail for "work at home" and "get rich quick" schemes and cable television descramblers, according to Wellborn.

"This was the worst of the worst of the worst of what you see in spam," he said.

The company first began investigating the spam ring in March 2002 following what it described as a "spike" in spam e-mail from the Buffalo, N.Y., area.

By October, an EarthLink team led by Mary Youngblood, EarthLink's network abuse team manager, identified and contacted a number of individuals involved in the ring with Carmack. Those people fingered Carmack as the ring leader.

EarthLink pursued Carmack and shut down several accounts he used. However, Carmack's spamming activities continued to be "a big enough nuisance" that EarthLink turned to the courts for relief, according to an EarthLink spokeswoman.

Carmack did not appear in court in Atlanta on Wednesday, nor was he represented by legal counsel, according to Wellborn.

Referring to conversations he had with Carmack, Wellborn said that the defendant did not appear to take the charges against him seriously.

"He thumbed his nose at the lawsuit and me and the judicial system. He told me 'Nothing is in my name so you'll never catch me.'"

Without opposing counsel and armed with sworn affidavits from one of Carmack's business associates and his own brother concerning his illegal spamming activity, EarthLink's attorneys had little trouble convincing the judge to rule against Carmack.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.