The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint against ten individuals and corporate entities which, acting collectively, have sent unsolicited sexually explicit e-mails in violation of the Can-Spam Act, the Adult Labeling Rule, and the FTC Act. The FTC’s commission authorized the complaint by a 5-0 vote.
According to the FTC, the spammers sent out sexually explicit e-mails that were often not labeled as such in their subject lines. The messages often did not contain opt-out options, nor did they identify the messages as advertisements, nor did they provide the sender’s mailing address. They also contained sexually explicit material within immediately viewable areas.
The defendants often sent out messages with e-mail addresses not provided by the e-mail service provider, or with misleading header information, the court papers claim. Additionally, the e-mail addresses the solicitations were sent to were obtained through false or misleading practices.
Furthermore, the defendants falsely stated that memberships in Web sites touted by the e-mails were free.
The FTC’s complaint, which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, names: Global Net Solutions, based in Las Vegas, Nevada; Global Net Ventures, Ltd., based in London, England; Wedlake, Ltd, allegedly based in Riga, Latvia; Open Space Enterprises, Inc., based in Las Vegas; Southlake Group, Inc., based in Las Vegas; WTFRC, Inc., doing business as Reflected Networks, Inc., based in Las Vegas; Dustin Hamilton; Tobin Banks; Gregory Hamilton; Philip Doroff; and Paul Rose as defendants.
"The [Direct Marketing Association] supports the FTC's continued enforcement efforts using the CAN-SPAM Act," said Louis Mastria, vice president of communications for the DMA. "This is yet another example of the utility of CAN-SPAM in holding spammers accountable and we continue to believe that law enforcement actions, like the ones taken today, are one the key to ridding spam from our inboxes."
The FTC is seeking to freeze the defendants’ assets; to prevent the defendants from violating the FTC Act, the Can Spam Act or the Adult Labeling Rule; and to gain whatever ill-gotten funds the defendants have reaped as a result of their actions.
