Spitzer the $220tr spam blitzer

Legal heavyweight and New York State Attorney Eliot Spitzer is to sue a company accused of pestering users with more than 500 million pieces of spam.

MonsterHut.com is charged with emailing millions of ads to people who did not want to receive them.

Spitzer claims 750,000 people have complained about MonsterHut.com. Under the false advertising and deceptive practice laws in New York, the company could face a monster civil penalty of more than $450 for each email sent - a staggering, though presumably theoretical, $220tr.

Spitzer recently gained a higher profile for his work in defending shareholders who felt that they had been sold over-valued shares in dot-com start-ups.

Eliot Spitzer featured in silicon.com's Agenda Setters 2002. Click here to find out more: http://www.silicon.com/agendasetters