[Reprinted with permission from the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy] 10 Things You Should Know About CAN-SPAM 1. CAN-SPAM applies only to commercial email. 2. CAN-SPAM applies to email for which a primary purpose is to feature your goods, services, or content even if you do not send…

It’s one of the most widely anticipated pronouncements from the Federal Trade Commission since the Paramount Antitrust Case. As they were charged with doing under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, the Federal Trade Commission has today announced the official definition of “Commercial Email” as it applies to CAN-SPAM. This is…

It’s been a hard month for reporters here in the Net Patrol. First Rachel Buchman loses her job as a reporter at WHYY for threatening a spammer, then Brian McWilliams infiltrates a Rolex knock-off spam ring, and now television news reporter Jim Taricani is sentenced to six months of house…

Popular file-sharing service BitTorrent today took a double hit as a large BitTorrent server site was raided by police in Finland, while in the United States hundreds of peer-to-peer system operators were sued by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The Finnish raid lead to the arrest of 34…

A Maryland judge held this week that Maryland’s anti-spam statute is unconstitutional. His reasoning is that the law seeks to regulate business which either is conducted from or through other states, over which Maryland does not properly have jurisdiction. Put in plain English, the logic is that because spam is…

Aren’t those new camera phones so fun? Some of them are so tiny and cute! You can put them in your pocket, take them everywhere, take pictures of people without them even realizing… Whoops, hold on, because that latter can get you into trouble, maybe even into jail. There seems…

Just when you think that you have heard everything. Perfect 10, a website which offers nude photos of women, has sued Internet search giant Google, claiming that Google’s search engine allows people to access lists of Perfect 10 usernames and passwords, and that it also allows them to view photos…

Three cheers for Microsoft, who just announced that this week they have filed seven more anti-spam lawsuits, this time taking aim specifically at porn spammers. The lawsuits, filed in the Washington State Superior Court in Kings County, were filed against seven “John Does”. A ‘John Doe’ lawsuit happens when the…

Phil Leigh’s “Inside Digital Media” is a place where, according to their site, “you can see and hear interviews with thought leaders in the Digital Media industries.”

And indeed that is just what they offer.

As Aunty reported to you all earlier this month here, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) is going on a lawsuit blitz, suing anyone they can get their hands on who has impermissibly downloaded even just one movie. This week it appears that their wide-dragging net caught a big fish, as…

As they promised that they would, the Motion Picture Assocation of America (MPAA) and their members have filed hundreds of lawsuits this week against people who have downloaded, traded, or otherwise pirated commercial movies. Like their brethern in the Recording Industry Assocation of America (RIAA), who filed hundreds of lawsuits…

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s true, then the Recording Industry Association of America should be very flattered, as the Motion Picture Assocation is following suit (pun intended). And certainly this will make a criminal lawyer or two happy. Undaunted by a recent Federal…

Sanford Wallace, the original “Spam King” (sorry, Mr. Richter), is back in the news. Wallace is perhaps best known for the run-ins which he and his company, Cyberpromotions, had with AOL and Compuserve back in the 1990s. At that time both companies sued Wallace for spamming them, and AOL’s victory…

Aunty has heard from a little birdie that the lawsuit filed by Spam King Scott Richter against anti-spam outfit SpamCop has been settled. As Aunty's gentle readers may know, Richter's request for an injunction was denied back in June, with the Court ruling that SpamCop was protected under the Communications…

Nicholas Tombros has become the first person in U.S. history to be convicted of war spamming – that combination of war driving and spamming.