The Federal Trade Commission has settled charges against two
individuals who allegedly used spam to trick recipients into
accessing sexually explicit material. They will pay $122,500,
purported to be the total revenue generated by their
activities.
Brian Westby of Missouri and Martijn Bevelander from the
Netherlands were said to be responsible for sending large
quantities of spam using bland subject lines such as "New movie
info" to disguise their contents. When the e-mails were opened, the
recipients, in some cases children, were exposed to adult-oriented
content and solicitations to visit adult web sites.
Links which purported to allow users to unsubscribe simply
resulted in an error message. The use of false 'reply to' or 'from'
information (known as 'spoofing') meant that any attempt to reply
to the e-mail resulted in undeliverable responses or innocent
bystanders being labelled as duplicitous spammers.
The settlement also bars the use of deceptive subject lines,
false header information, and making false claims in relation to
removal from subscriber lists. Both individuals are also required
to keep records which will allow the FTC to monitor their future
compliance
