Howard Carmack - the Buffalo Spammer - has been arrested and charged in New York for four felony (i.e. criminal) and two misdemeanour counts relating to his alleged fraudulence in obtaining Internet access accounts to send more than 825 million spam emails.

His nemesis, Earthlink, the US ISP, last week won $16.4m damages and a permanent order to stop spamming against Carmack. He didn't turn up in the US District Court in Atlanta where the case was held. Neither did he send a lawyer.

In a statement Dave Baker, EarthLink's vice president of law and public policy said: "Today, we commend the prosecution of the 'Buffalo Spammer' by the New York Attorney General's Office. Howard Carmack's arrest demonstrates that spamming has both civil and criminal consequences. Simply put, spammers who brazenly disregard the law will wind up in jail." ®