Ig Nobel Prize winner: $711 million

Sanford (“Spamford”) Wallace, winner of the 1997 Ig Nobel Prize for communications (“neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night have stayed this self-appointed courier from delivering electronic junk mail to all the world”), is in the news again. Reuters reports, on October 30, 2009 that:

Facebook gets $711 million damages in anti-spam case

Social networking website Facebook was awarded $711.2 million in damages relating to an anti-spam case against Internet marketer Sanford Wallace, court documents show….

[Fun fact from 1997: Sanford Wallace did not attend the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Concerned for the safety of Mr. Wallace’s person, the organizers did not invite him.]