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A Really Bad Idea: Register Your Child’s Email Address with the Michigan or Utah Email Child Protection Registery

As stupid ideas go, this one is a doozy: people have long said that one of the downsides of a Do Not Email Registry is that it would be such an attractive target for spammers. Well how about this one: the states of Michigan and Utah just enacted law to…

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BREAKING NEWS: NY State Attorney General Reaches Settlement With Spam King Scott Richter

In an exclusive story, the Internet Patrol has learned that the New York State Attorney General has reached a settlement with Spam King Scott Richter.

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Breaking News: Court Dismisses SpamCop SLAPP Suit Against Richter

Aunty is still working to confirm this, but a little birdie whispered in her ear that SpamCop’s and parent company Ironport’s SLAPP suit against Scott Richter and his OptInRealBig, in response to Richter’s suit against SpamCop, has been dismissed by the Court. Here’s the history to date: Richter sues SpamCop…

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Old Spammers Never Die…

In a triumph of stupidity over common sense, William “Billy” Carson has managed to distinguish himself by being the target of one of the first lawsuits by a state District Attorney’s office under CAN-SPAM. Massachusetts is suing Carson for sending “thousands of messages with numerous violations, including misleading subject lines…

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DeniedRealBig: Court Rejects Richter’s Request for Injunction against SpamCop

On Friday afternoon the California Federal Court denied a request by King of Spam Scott Richter and his OptInRealBig for an injunction against anti-spam organization SpamCop.

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One bad apple… (AOL’s Jason Smathers Arrested for Stealing Email Addresses)

AOL employee Jason Smathers has been arrested for stealing an AOL customer list containing 92 million AOL usernames and selling it to Las Vegas spammer Sean Dunaway. Police say that Dunaway, who was arrested as well, used the list to send spam about his online gambling business, and that he…

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Microsoft Now Owns Patent on the “double click”

Microsoft Corporation has been granted a patent on the “double click”. We kid you not.

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California Senate Sends Gmail a Message

The BBC reports today that the California Senate has passed SB 1822, aimed at limiting Google’s ability to scan email coming in to the users of their Gmail system, and also limiting Google’s ability to archive and sell the resulting information. Now, Aunty is old enough to remember some real…

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Advertiser Accountability under CAN-SPAM

We had a really proud moment here this week, when Senator John McCain said, during the Senate Commerce Committee Hearings on the effectiveness of CAN-SPAM to date, “If the FTC can’t find the spammers, it should do the next best thing: go after the businesses that knowingly hire spammers to promote their goods and services…” Senator McCain is referring to Section 6 of CAN-SPAM, which holds those who knowingly advertise in spam responsible just as if they had sent the spam themselves.

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Richter Crows, Eats Crow, as TRO against SpamCop is Rescinded

In perhaps the most content-free press release which Aunty has ever seen, Scott Richter yesterday crowed about the TRO which was issued against SpamCop in the Richter v. SpamCop case, saying: “A Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) was issued today by the United States District Court, the Northern District of California,…

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Court Grants Scott Richter TRO against SpamCop/Ironport

The United States District Court for the Northern District of California today granted Scott Richter and his company, OptInRealBig, a restraining order against SpamCop and their parent company, Ironport Systems. Richter sued SpamCop less than two weeks ago, claiming that the anti-spam service was hurting his business and interfering with…

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Update on Richter versus World

According to public sources, Scott Richter, who is being sued by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and Microsoft, has stated that he is close to reaching a settlement with Spitzer. On the other hand, he says that talks with Microsoft “haven’t progressed as far”.

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Is the FTC Going to Come After Me for Not Including My Mailing Address?

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which is the new Federal anti-spam law, only applies to commercial email. It does not apply to the private, personal email which you send

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Opt-Out “Do Not Email” Suppression Lists – Who, What, and How?

In a law rife with grey areas, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, one of the greyest is the requirements surrounding the handling of opt-outs, and the related creation of suppression (“do not email”) lists. This is a responsbility which falls squarely on the shoulders of the marketers..er, the postmaster..no, wait,…

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To All the People Whining That CAN-SPAM Hasn’t Worked

It happens at least twice a week. Some reporter, pundit, or well-meaning but tunnel-visioned anti-spammer will point triumphantly to the fact that the load of spam in their inbox has not decreased – in fact, if anything, increased – since January 1, 2004, when the CAN-SPAM Act became effective, as…