How to make millions from spam

Even Paul Wagner’s attorney calls him a geek. Wagner runs his computer business from an office in his parents’ Silver Spring home. He lives with a bunch of roommates in Dupont Circle and loves a good convention that displays fast machines.

But he’s also the man behind a cutting-edge lawsuit that could change the way businesses use the Internet.

A jury at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt will decide as soon as Thursday whether Wagner, 48, is a bona fide Internet service provider battling alleged spammers who clog his in-boxes with offers for everything from coffee to appliances. Wagner’s detractors say he’s taking advantage of the law, intentionally seeking out spam in order to sue for $1,000 for each piece of deceptive e-mail.

He’s already taken in more than $1 million from spammers.

Legal experts think that it’s one of the first jury trials in a federal civil case brought by a private citizen and not the government, and it has implications for how the nation’s patchwork of anti-spam laws are used in court. ...WaPo