Lawyer's Lawsuit Against Spam Hits a Nerve

When Michael A. Jacobs, a partner at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco, sued e-mail direct marketer Etracks.com Inc. last month for inundating his firm with thousands of unsolicited e-mails -- or spam -- people from all over thanked him for bringing the case. But Jacobs is treading in new legal territory: Although California and 21 other states have anti-spam laws, they have gone largely untested.