In the first action taken under the new federal Can Spam act, four of the nation’s largest e-mail providers on Tuesday filed suit against hundreds of online marketers.
The lawsuits were filed by Microsoft Corp., Yahoo, Inc. EarthLink, Inc. and America Online, a unit of Time Warner, Inc. Six lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California, Virginia, Georgia and Washington state, according to news reports.
The suits cover a range of federal and state laws, including organized crime statutes, trespass and trademark infringement. The suit claims that the defendants falsified return addresses, used misleading subject lines and routed messages through other computers, the report said.
The Can Spam Act, passed last year, took effect Jan. 1. The measure establishes the first national standards for commercial e-mail and includes tough civil and criminal penalties. The Act requires senders of commercial e-mail to include an enforceable opt-out mechanism, prohibits false and deceptive headers and subject lines and increases monetary damages imposed on spammers who engage in particularly nefarious spamming techniques. The bill was sponsored by Sens. Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces the law, announced that it was seeking comment on how to define the criteria used to determine the “primary purpose” of an e-mail to clairfy whether the Act applies to certain e-mails. It is also seeking comment on establishing a nationwide do-not-e-mail registry, which a proposal in the Act encouraged the FTC to create.
The law is to be enforced by the FTC, state attorneys general and Internet service providers. Fines of up to $250 per e-mail with a cap of $2 million that can be tripled for aggravated violations can be imposed. Criminal provisions in the bill create several tiers of penalties, including up to five years in prison.
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