Canadian spam king relinquishes throne

A Canadian man accused of being one of the world's biggest spammers has agreed to stop sending the junk messages and plans to educate children about the dangers of the Internet, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

In March, Yahoo! Inc. sued Eric Head, his father and brother as part of a worldwide industry crackdown on hundreds of people sending unsolicited e-mail, or spam.

Yahoo alleged the three men ran a huge spamming operation and sent more than 94 million e-mails in one month alone to users of Yahoo's e-mail service.

The three have settled the lawsuit and agreed to pay Yahoo at least $100,000, Toronto's Globe and Mail reported in Tuesday's editions. The exact amount is confidential, but a lawyer for the family told the newspaper it was "six figures."

Although the lawsuit named all three men, the allegations centered on Eric Head, 25, who ran a bulk e-mail business from the family's home in Kitchener, Ontario.

Head has shut down his operation, called Gold Disk Canada, and become a drummer in a rock band.

"Eric is out of business," said Huey Cotton, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented the men. "He's going to play in a band and find a way to use his knowledge to help protect kids on the Internet."

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In a statement, Head expressed regret.

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"I urge everyone who is involved in the commercial bulk e-mail business to cease all operations unless and until they are completely compliant with the requirements of the new United States anti-spam laws."

The settlement was reached several weeks ago and approved by a judge on Thursday.

Cotton said the agreement is not an admission of wrongdoing and the three men neither admit nor deny Yahoo's allegations. A lawyer for Yahoo confirmed the settlement but declined further comment.