The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled a lawsuit
originally raised in October 1999 against a group of spammers who
collected credit card details and other personal information by
telling recipients of their unsolicited e-mails that they had to
supply the details or risk losing access to the internet.
Robert Stout, who traded under the name Global Internet Federal
Registry, and Donald J. Lyttle, who was a director of an on-line
“credit repair” company GetOutFromUnder.com, collected personal
identifying information from consumers including credit card
information.
The final settlement means that both men are now barred from
misrepresenting themselves in any advertising, marketing,
promotion, distribution or sale of any products or services over
the internet. This comes after an earlier preliminary court order
in the case required them to destroy all of the information they
had collected.
The FTC will be allowed to monitor all activities of the pair to
ensure compliance with the settlement.
