US Charges under CAN-SPAM Act Reveal Extent of Spamming

Charges for sending unsolicited e-mail have been laid against seven individuals and two companies in Massachusetts and two men in Florida under the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act) and state anti-spamming legislation. The statistics cited by law enforcement officials indicate the scope of the scourge. In Massachusetts, the spammers were charged with the distribution of hundreds of millions of messages touting prescription drugs and get-rich-quick schemes on the basis of information collected by Microsoft in its anti-spam initiative. Also based on evidence provided by Microsoft, the Florida Attorney General charged two men for allegedly sending over 65,000 e-mails and advertising 75 web sites which fraudulently sold prescription drugs, cigarettes and copyrighted movies. The CAN-SPAM Act bans misleading header information or subject lines and requires advertiser to provide a way for recipients to opt out of future e-mail and an address for the source company. Under the legislation, ISPs and others injured by the actions of spammers are given the right to sue for damages. For example, courts have awarded Earthlink judgments worth millions. Although compliance with the Act is growing, 97% of unsolicited e-mail in the US in 2004 violated the law, according to MX Logic. Meanwhile, in Canada, where spam-specific legislation does not yet exist, the Report on the Task Force on Spam was submitted to the Minister of Industry with a number of recommendations for legislative action. For more information on the Massachusetts case, see: http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-5703737.html For an article on the Florida case, go to: http://makeashorterlink.com/?K2C01342B A guide to the Can-Spam Act by the FTC can be found at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm For a critique of the Can-Spam Act, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?B1313242B For the Canadian Task Force Report, visit: http://e-com.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inecic-ceac.nsf/en/h_gv00317e.html Summary by: Nyall Engfield