First CAN-SPAM Lawsuit Filed in California

rocketjam writes "Foster City, California-based ISP Hypertouch, Inc. has filed the first lawsuit alleging violations of the new Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The lawsuit was filed against BobVila.com and the spammer they hired, Bluestream Media, for sending Hypertouch customers unwanted, unsolicited email advertisements for Vila's "Home Again Newsletter." The suit alleges the defendents sent spam email ads with fraudulent headers and no physical address. It also alleges the emails were sent to randomly generated and harvested addresses as well as addresses that had replied to opt-out links in other spams. Hypertouch's attorney, John L. Fallat, said the CAN-SPAM Act offers little protection to the public, but they would use the few protections it offers to punish spammers." Reader Clemence links to Wired's coverage of the suit.

Comments

Re:Hmm

[Zeinfeld]

Well, we were in contact with them for a bit before we filled the suit.

I don't know what kind of stunt you are pulling here, but I don't really give a whole heap of credibility to someone who files a lawsuit and then goes talking about it on slashdot.

When the CANSPAM act was being debated at the FTC the big issue everyone was worried about was that the law would be used by gold-diggers against the folk with the deepest pockets. This is apparently what had happened in Utah were the act quickly became a full employment act for lawyers. That is why the act is a lot weaker than some anti-spam campaigners would like.

This debate quickly ends up like the abortion debate. Both sides start to look pretty ugly. Instead of all this he-said she-said stuff we should design some protocols where you can tell whether someone consented to send the mail or not.