Bad day for E360 (but a good one for the rest of us)

I just got back from vacation to a passel of delightful news. First is word that E360, not to put too fine a point on it, got their ass handed to them in the E360 vs Comcast lawsuit.

A copy of the decision can be found at SpamSuite. It's seven pages long and very worth reading. It starts out:

Plaintiff e360Insight, LLC is a marketer. It refers to itself as an Internet marketing company. Some, perhaps even a majority of people in this country, would call it a spammer.

Now there's an opening paragraph that has Bad Day written all over it for E360.

Anyway, the entire opinion is well worth reading and is clearly the work of a judge who Gets It.

Bottom line: Comcast is immune from lawsuit under the Good Samaritan provision of the CDA, § 230(c). E360's claim that being CAN-SPAM compliant removes that immunity is rubbish. E360's Denial Of Service claims are rubbish. E360's Tortious Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage claim is likewise nonsense. E360's first ammendment rights have nothing to do with Comcast, a private enterprise.

Entire lawsuit is dismissed on the grounds that § 230(c) grants immunity to Comcast.

This is a very good outcome. It reinforces the precedent that § 230(c) immunity is absolute and applies to spam-blocking, and it establishes that CAN-SPAM compliance does not affect that immunity.

All that remains is to see what happens with Comcast's countersuit.

More coverage:

• J.D. Falk: If It Spams Like a Duck...
• John Levine: Comcast 1, E360 0
• Slashdot: Judge In e360 Vs. Comcast Rules e360 a Spammer