WASHINGTON -- Sitting in a plush leather chair in a borrowed office at George Washington University Law School, Eric Menhart seems nothing more than an ambitious, third-year law student with some impressive experience under his belt.
He has interned for Congress, the Federal Trade Commission and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think tank. He's on the elections and technology committees of the American Bar Association's student division, and he started his own Web site company in college, which he sold for $21,000.
But his enterprising nature has led him into another pursuit that some people describe in harsh terms -- like "extortion" or "blackmail."
"People like [Menhart] should be locked up in prison for life," Paul Kroto wrote in a letter to a Montgomery County judge after Menhart sued him for sending what appeared to be illegal spam, the popular term for unsolicited advertising that floods e-mail accounts. "They are just looking to make a quick buck on innocent people," Kroto said.
Menhart, 25, is fighting spam by filing civil suits against the people and companies who allegedly send it. He has turned the crusade into a full-fledged business -- a limited liability corporation named MaryCLE, which stands for Maryland Legal Consumer Equity and is pronounced "miracle."
The company and a partner, an Internet service provider, have filed nine lawsuits in Maryland courts. The suits seek between $3,000 and $168,750 in damages from defendants in eight states, including Delaware, Illinois, Wisconsin and Tennessee.
Menhart is one of a handful of people around the country who are using recent state laws against spam to mount a cyber-vigilante battle against junk e-mail, which has grown into a fixture -- many say an annoying one -- of life in the digital age. It's also a problem for legitimate e-mail marketers, who are tired of being lumped in with those less scrupulous.
"The hallmark of legitimate e-mail marketing is that the company has asked and received your permission" to send it, said Laura Atkins, an e-mail marketing consultant and president of California-based SpamCon Foundation, which supports efforts to eradicate spam through filing lawsuits.
Companies should be truthful, send material only to clients who've asked for it and provide an audit trail, Atkins said. Such suggestions are similar to the requirements in the year-old law that regulates telephone solicitations.
