Category: Law
Tiger Direct Directly Grabs Tiger by the Tail with Lawsuit Against Apple
Computer mail-order outfit Tiger Direct has sued Apple, Inc, in the 11th hour, over Apple’s use of the name “Tiger” on Apple’s newest release of OS X. How stupid is that? Apple’s Tiger for Mac goes on sale to the public tonight, Friday, April 29th, at 6:00pm. Meanwhile, Tiger Direct…
Hypertouch Serves Gevalia Coffee a Steaming Cup of Fresh Brewed Spam Lawsuit – It’s About Time
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….
California Attorney General Granted TRO Against Spam Group Using “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
Last week Aunty reported that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer’s office, through Deputy Attorney General Ian Sweedler, had teamed up with the FTC to nail spammers Rick Yang and Peonie Pui Ting Chen, operating out of Los Angeles as Optin Global, Inc. and Vision Media Limited Corp.. At the end…
Minnesota Next Up for New Anti-Spam Law
Following closely on the heels of the success of the states of Florida and Virginia with state laws aimed at spammers, and the new state anti-spam laws introduced in Ohio, Utah, and Iowa (those four-letter vowel states are all over spam), the Minnesota senate has unanimously passed a state law…
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and FTC Gang Up on Spammers Optin Global and Vision Media
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has filed what is believed to be the first joint lawsuit uniting a state attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission against a common enemy – in this case notorious California spammers Rick Yang and Peonie Pui Ting Chen, and their Optin Global, Inc. and…
Top Spammer Jeremy Jaynes Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison
Some of you may recall the trial of notorious spammer Jeremy Jaynes in November of last year. Jeremy Jaynes was considered to be one of the most prolific spammers around, pumping out an incredible 10million pieces of spam a day from his suburban Raleigh, North Carolina home. In fact, he…
Florida Sues Spammers Filary and Townsend – Microsoft Helps
The state of Florida, through Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, and with Microsoft’s assistance, has sued two prolific spammers, Scott Filary and Donald Townsend, whom are accused of sending at least 65,000 pieces of spam, some 48,000 of which were sent after the passage of Florida’s new anti-spam law last…
Aunty’s Readers Sound Off About the FCC Broadcast Flag
As you might imagine, Aunty’s readers had lots to say about the FCC’s “broadcast flag”, which is a system which will be required in all devices capable of recording from television, signaling the presence of copyrighted material, effective July 1st of this year. A detailed account is available in our…
CAN-SPAM Smack Down for Spammers Hiding Behind Affiliates (Email Marketing)
A little-known but powerful clause in CAN-SPAM ensures that spammers cannot hide behind their affiliates to avoid CAN-SPAM liabilty. Prior to the passage of CAN-SPAM, people selling products which were being advertised by spam were often able to escape liability by saying “Hey, it wasn’t me who sent the email.”…
Anti-Spam and Identity Theft Laws Come to the Heartland with Passage of Iowa Bills
Iowa has joined the ranks of states which are specifically targetting spam and spyware, along with identity theft, with the passage of their new suite of computer crime bills. One bill prohibits the transmission of spam, another spyware, and a third makes it a crime to misappropriate the personal information…
Why PC Owners Should Care About the FCC’s Broadcast Flag
Have you heard about the “broadcast flag”? It’s an anti-copying scheme for digital broadcasts which has been mandated by the FCC. The broadcast flag is essentially a two-part scheme: part one is the flag itself – a little bit of data included in the digital broadcast stream which says “hey,…
The Once and Future Spam King: Scott Richter Files Bankruptcy on Microsoft, But Don’t Count Him Out Yet
Scott “I don’t need money” Richter, notorious spammer, has filed for bankruptcy in the face of a lawsuit from Microsoft.
If You Sell Anything on eBay, the IRS Tax Man May Cometh
Have you ever sold anything on eBay? Be it a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary, your ex-girlfriend’s wedding dress with you in it, or your unwashed underwear, the IRS may want its cut. Nothing is beneath the IRS. And that is why the eBay community…
VOIP 911: Weakness in VoIP 911 System Leads to Lawsuit Against Vonage
The State of Texas has sued VoIP provider Vonage for weaknesses in the VOIP 911 system. Note that the issue is not with Vonage itself, but with how 911 calls are handled (or not) by VoIP systems generally. The Texas Attorney General has sued Vonage claiming that they use deceptive…
Feds May Regulate “Political” Blogs and Other Political Content Providers
The Federal Election Commission is considering regulating and restricting online entities and activities which run to the political, including political blogs and other political content providers and sources. Let’s face it, anyone with a keyboard, a monitor, and a brain, is aware that online content providers, particularly bloggers, played a…
