A New York judge has ordered MonsterHut to stop telling consumers that they had requested the firm’s e-mail.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lottie Wilkins ruled that MonsterHut violated the state’s consumer fraud laws when it told consumers it had obtained their permission to send the message, according to the office of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, which filed suit against Niagara Falls, NY-based firm last year.
The permanent injunction issued by Wilkins also names Monsterhut’s CEO Todd Pelow, and its chief technology officer Gary Hartl. A hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 11 to determine restitution and civil penalties.
Wilkins ruled that the firm must stop engaging in “any of the fraudulent, deceptive and illegal acts and practices pertaining to representations of ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’ or the permission-based nature of their protocols or the collection and use of their e-mail data,” according to Spitzer’s office.
In his lawsuit, Spitzer alleged that MonsterHut had told consumers they were receiving a solicitation because they requested it. He called this a misrepresentation.
Stephen Cobb, the author of “Privacy for Business: Web Sites and Email,” said in a statement that “the court has done consumers a great service.”
However, he added that “a lot of spam is sent by people who are either outside U.S. jurisdiction or have little regard for the law.”
Spitzer said in a statement that “millions of New Yorkers have received spam falsely claiming that we have opted in, or somehow consented to receiving what amounts to junk e-mail.
He continued that “this decision holds e-mail marketers to the same standards that other retailers and advertisers are held to.”
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