FTC Scores First CAN-SPAM Porn Win

The Federal Trade Commission Tuesday struck the first blow against porn spammers by using provisions in the federal CAN-SPAM Act to convince a Nevada judge to freeze the assets of several companies and five men accused of spewing pornographic e-mails.

The FTC claimed that the spam did not come with the "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" warning in the messages' subject headings, as required by the CAN-SPAM Act, and that the messages violated several other components of the year-old anti-spam law.

Charged in the FTC's complaint were Global Net Solutions, Open Space Enterprises, Southlake Group, and WTFRC, all based in Las Vegas, Nevada; Global Net Ventures in London; and Wedlake, Ltd., allegedly in Riga, Latvia. The five individuals named were Dustin Hamilton, Tobin Banks, Gregory Hamilton, Philip Doroff, and Paul Rose, all of Las Vegas.

The five men, four of whom controlled an interlocking network of six companies, are forbidden from sending out additional spam under a temporary restraining order, and their assets, as well as those of the companies they run, have been frozen.

"Spammers beware! The law gives consumers a tool to control what comes into their inboxes," said Lydia Parnes, the acting director if the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection in a statement.

The FTC will seek some sort of redress for consumers -- who also were fraudulently told that the porn sites advertised were free -- and a permanent injunction against further spamming. The men could, for instance, be forced to return any money they may have made from the scheme.