AOL v. Prime Data Worldnet Systems Press Release 3/11/98

Neil Albala, the author of some of the most commonly used junk e-mailing software, was found to be in contempt of a federal court in Arizona this week after failing to provide records detailing the sales of his software. Albala, who claims to have developed Gold Rush and Floodgate spamming software, was ordered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona to turn over his sales records immediately to AOL. The court ordered Albala to pay AOL's court costs and indicated it would impose further penalties if he failed provide the records to AOL.

AOL issued a subpoena to Albala in connection with AOL's suit against Prime Data Worldnet Systems, Inc. That suit, filed October 17, 1997, charged that Prime Data Worldnet violated federal and Virginia state law by sending AOL members unsolicited e-mails promoting "get-rich" schemes. The e-mails, which drew the complaints of AOL members, hawked the spamming software. A federal court recently entered a judgement for AOL in this case after Prime Data Worldnet and its founder, Vernon Hale, failed to contest AOL's charges.