ICANN to close down Spamhaus?

Filed in archive Spam News on October 10, 2006

Remember when I wrote about Spamhaus getting a $11,7 mil fine from an American court for blacklisting an alleged spammer?

Although Spamhaus is a legit UK business, and in the UK spam is illegal, they chose not to argues the verdict, presuming, as it turns out naively, that it will go away. But, as Ars Technica writes, things are getting complicated:

"Unfortunately, Spamhaus neglected to make the argument that it is not subject to US court orders at the outset the case. Had it done so, e360insight may have been forced to pursue Spamhaus in the UK court system. Instead, when the case was originally filed in state court, the blacklisting group successfully argued that it should be moved the federal court. It was only that after the proceedings began in the District Court that Spamhaus decided not fight it.
Now, Spamhaus is faced with a contempt of court finding, and as a result, is looking at some king-sized headaches. ICANN, which operates in the US under the jurisdiction of the US Commerce Department, will have to at least consider complying with the order, should it become final."

I really have a hard time coping with the fact that any organization who delegates, de facto, whole internet (domains etc.) should be governed by the US. I sincerely hope Spamhaus will manage to reach an agreement on this matter. After all, they do block round 50 billion spams a day!