TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Porn Spammers Pay 1.6 Million in Spam Crackdown

Porn Spammers Pay 1.6 Million in Spam Crackdown

Reuters NewsWire (reuters@telecom-digest.org)
Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:53:53 -0500

Five pornography companies have agreed to pay $1.16 million in fines
for sending "spam" e-mail without a warning that it contains sexually
explicit material, U.S. regulators said on Wednesday.

Three other businesses also face lawsuits for sending improperly
labeled e-mail, the Federal Trade Commission said.

Under FTC rules, commercial e-mailers must include the phrase
"SEXUALLY EXPLICIT" in the subject lines of pornographic messages to
allow consumers to more easily filter them out.

Marketers also must ensure that the messages don't contain graphic sexual
images when they are first opened up.

The companies targeted in the crackdown didn't actually send out the
messages but are still liable because they hired others to do so, the
FTC said.

According to the FTC, BangBros.com Inc. of Florida agreed to pay
$650,000; MD Media of Michigan will pay $238,743, and APC
Entertainment Inc. of Florida will pay $220,000. Pure Marketing
Solutions and Internet Matrix Technology together will pay $50,000 to
settle the charges.

The companies also agreed to allow the FTC to monitor their operations
to make sure they comply with existing laws.

Three other companies also face lawsuits for improper labeling: TJ Web
Productions, based in Nevada; Cyberheat Inc. of Arizona; and Impulse
Media, of Washington State.

Microsoft Corp. helped in the investigation, the FTC said.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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