Saturday, November 16, 2002

News: FTC drawing the line on spammers

A coalition of government regulators led by the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday announced a crackdown on online spammers and scammers.

Altogether, the regulators announced they had filed more than 30 enforcement actions and had sent letters to about 100 alleged spammers warning them to cease sending the unwanted and often fraudulent commercial e-mail messages. Additionally, the regulators announced the results of an investigation into spam, concluding that Net users who post their e-mail addresses in publicly accessible places, such as on chat sites or newsgroups, are highly likely to receive spam as a result.

The regulators' action was the third such FTC-led initiative this year to combat spam, noted Brian Huseman, a staff attorney at the FTC.

The FTC trained its sights on spammers in January, announcing that it would begin taking legal action against those who sent deceptive e-mail messages. In April, the agency along with six U.S. states and Canada announced they had filed 63 enforcement actions and had sent warning letters to 500 sites accused of sending illegal chain letter scams. The FTC announced a similar enforcement action in July.

Although states such as California have enacted laws prohibiting spam, there is no comparable federal law. Despite this, the FTC has the power to combat deceptive practices, advertisements or outright fraud.

If a company promises in an e-mail to allow customers to "opt out" of receiving further messages but doesn't provide a legitimate opt-out address, the company could run afoul of the FTC. Likewise, the agency can take steps to quash pyramid schemes online or offline.

Legal actions taken by the FTC usually take the form of civil, not criminal, complaints that force parties found guilty to pay restitution and cease their activities.

In addition to the FTC, regulatory agencies involved in Wednesday's announcement included the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts; the New Hampshire Department of Justice; the attorneys general of Connecticut, Maine, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont; and consumer protection departments in New Jersey, New York City and New York state.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-965723.html

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