Maryland citizens retain right to fight spam

The Baltimore Sun reports that on Thursday, an appellate judge had reversed an earlier ruling that Maryland's anti-spam law unconstitutional. In the ruling, judge Sally D. Adkins affirmed that Maryland courts do have jurisdiction over spammers who send false or misleading emails to MD residents.

This ruling, along with similar rulings in California and Washington, means that states do have the right to pass anti-spam laws, and that the CAN-SPAM act does not invalidate those laws. This is an important legal precedent.

The Maryland civil anti-spam law allows residents to sue for $500 for every misleading or fraudulent email they receive, and for ISPs to sue for $1000.

See Baltimore Sun article "Judge affirms spam suits" for more details.