Posted by Virus Bulletin on Apr 1, 2006
Internet marketing firm makes $900,000 settlement.
An Internet marketing firm in the US has agreed to pay $900,000 to settle a case brought against it by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The fine is the largest imposed so far for breaches of the CAN-SPAM Act.
The FTC alleges that Jumpstart Technologies violated anti-spam rules during a campaign in which it disguised its emails as personal messages. According to the FTC, an initial email from Jumpstart offered free cinema tickets if the recipient would provide the company with the names and email addresses of five or more of their friends. Jumpstart would then send commercial emails to those email addresses, placing the original recipient's email address in the 'from' line and using a seemingly personal subject line, such as, 'Hey', 'Happy Valentine's Day', or 'Invite'.
Jumpstart is accused of violating the CAN-SPAM Act by sending commercial emails with false or misleading subject and 'from' lines, continuing to send emails more than 10 business days after receiving an opt-out request, not clearly identifying messages as advertising or solicitations, and not informing recipients clearly that they could opt out of receiving more emails.
Despite not admitting to any violations of the Act, Jumpstart has agreed to pay a settlement fee of $900,000 and to cease its dubious email marketing practices.
Posted on 01 April 2006 by Virus Bulletin
