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 on appeal set some of the first anti-spam precedent in the country. In fact, our own Michael Grow was one of the attorneys who nailed Mr. Wallace on behalf of AOL, way back when.
For many years after Wallace was relatively unseen and unheard.
Fast forward to October, 2004, where Wallace has resurfaced as that character we all love to hate: the spyware solutions provider who infected your machine with the spyware in the first place. Apparently the FTC is no more amused by Wallace’s antics now than AOL and Compuserve were back when. And they have shown their love by rolling out their brand new anti-spyware legislation in his honor, making Wallace the first to be prosecuted under the new law. Bravo!
Wallace’s attorney claims that he just wants “to use the Internet for advertising in lawful and proper ways.”
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Of course he does. He’s just having trouble figuring out how.
Perhaps his old peers, Canter and Siegel can tell him how it’s done.
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Advertising will make the Net Work! Invading our privacy is not advertising and should be punished.
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