FTC granted restraining order against porn spammers
'Sexually explicit' labelling rule violated
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been granted a temporary restraining order against six companies that it says have violated CAN SPAM regulations.
The FTC says that the companies have violated regulations which state that emails with content of a sexual or pornographic nature must carry the label 'sexually explicit'.
According to the FTC, an associate of the companies sent hundreds of thousands of emails (without the required 'sexually explicit' label) which directed the recipient to websites operated by the companies named in the filing.
In addition to not having labelled the emails as sexually explicit, the FTC accuses the defendants of having failed to clearly identify all of their messages as advertisements - giving the impression, in some cases, that the services were free - and of failing to provide the required opt-out facility for those wishing to unsubscribe from the messages.
However, a legal representative for the companies said his clients had 'no quarrel' complying with CAN SPAM - and that their spamming had ceased prior to the FTC filing its complaint.
The FTC is seeking a permanent injunction against the companies.
12 January 2005
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