'Timeshare Spammer' Gets A Year In Prison

A man dubbed the "Timeshare Spammer" was sentenced Thursday to a year in federal prison and ordered to pay $120,000.

The sentencing of Peter Moshu of Florida stemmed from his conviction in June on a federal charge of violating the federal CAN-SPAM Act. Moshu was arrested by federal officials after he was named in a lawsuit filed in January by Earthlink Inc., based in Atlanta.

The suit accused Moshu of sending millions of unsolicited commercial e-mails in 2004 and 2005. The missives sought personal information by offering brokerage services for people interested in selling their timeshares, an agreement in which people share vacation homes.

Also on Thursday, Internet service provider Earthlink said it had won a $15.4 million judgment against Craig Brockwell and his company BC Alliance Inc. Earthlink claimed the Miami man sent hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mails advertising discount ink jet printer cartridges and other printer supplies.

U.S. District Court Judge Beverly B. Martin granted late last month Earthlink's request for monetary damages and injunctive relief. The latter prevents Brockwell and his company from illegally spamming any Internet user, regardless of the user’s ISP, Earthlink said.

"Both of these cases represent more examples of how civil litigation and legal action can put spammers out of business,” Larry Slovensky, assistant general counsel for EarthLink, said in a statement.