Spam Scotland at your own risk

There's a Scottish saying, "They that dance must pay the fiddler." Now it seems there should be another: "They that spam must pay the Scot." Fed up with the daily deluge of spam he received, Gordon Dick, of Edinburgh, Scotland, decided to sue one of his inbox invaders-and won.

Gordon took Transcom Internet Services to small claims court, arguing that the company had obtained his e-mail address illegally and without his consent. Transcom refuted the claim, saying that Gordon's e-mail address-along with over 40,000 others-was added to their databases accidentally. The court was apparently unimpressed by this defense, and in the end agreed with Gordon. The court awarded him £750 ($1,473) in damages and £619 ($1,216) in court costs.