AOL Wins $5.6-Million Award Against Spammer

America Online won a $5.6-million award against a Minnesota man who sent billions of spam e-mails over the Internet service in 2003 and whose case helped spawn anti-spamming legislation.

Christopher William Smith, 25, was ordered to pay $5.3 million, or $25,000 for every day he sent out spam e-mails, plus $287,059 for America Online’s legal fees, U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria, Va., ruled.

Dulles, Va.-based America Online, a unit of Time Warner Inc., first sued Smith in 2003 under Virginia law, and then again in 2005 to take advantage of the federal Can-Spam act.