Gevalia Coffee has been known for years in the anti-spam community as the poster child for bad spamming practices. Gevalia’s efforts to deflect spam accusations to their affiliates and hired spam guns have made far more of a name for Gevalia among anti-spammers than their coffee could ever hope to.
Indeed, it was with Gevalia specifically in mind that Aunty Spam gleefully worked with Senator McCain’s office on the drafting of the section of CAN-SPAM which now makes those who profit from the sending of spam liable even if they didn’t themselves press “send” (see “SECTION 6, BUSINESSES KNOWINGLY PROMOTED BY ELECTRONIC MAIL WITH FALSE OR MISLEADING TRANSMISSION INFORMATION of CAN-SPAM”).
So, it is with great pleasure that Aunty tells you today that California ISP Hypertouch has sued Gevalia, and parent company Kraft, for the spam stream to which Hypertouch itself has been subjected since 2001.
Hypertouch, you may remember, is the same ISP which sued home improvment guru Bob Vila for spamming, almost exactly a year ago. Located in Foster City, California, this is one ISP which puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to spam.
Said Hypertouch president Joe Wagner, “Despite ongoing complaints, Gevalia has been using illegal spam since 2001. Gevalia routinely uses some of the most notorious spammers in the business.” Amen Brother Wagner.
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
CashApp us
Venmo us
Paypal us
Hypertouch’s lawsuit asks for damages which could exceed 11million dollars. You go, Hypertouch!
Remember, it’s not the size of the ISP in the fight, but the size of the fight in the ISP.
The Internet Patrol is completely free, and reader-supported. Your tips via CashApp, Venmo, or Paypal are appreciated! Receipts will come from ISIPP.
CashApp us
Venmo us
Paypal us
i will never use gevalia again! screw U kraft.
Aunty, I notice you omitted some quotes:
“Gevalia provides a perfect example of the deep flaws federal CAN-SPAM Act,” Wagner said. “CAN-SPAM put the onus on the public to do what you should never do–attempt to ‘opt-out’ of spam. We submitted a brand new, never used email address to Gevalia’s opt-out link as a test. Sure enough, that email address, given only to Gevalia, started getting daily spam for all kinds of products and services.”
“If submitting email addresses to Kraft’s Gevalia is demonstrably a bad idea, imagine the peril in submitting addresses directly to the spammers they hire,” (attorney for Hypertouch John L.)Fallat added. “The aptly named CAN-SPAM Act should be rewritten so that it supports strong anti-spam laws like California’s instead of deliberately weakening them.”