Diet Spam

E-mail marketers of a fake diet patch have reached a settlement with the FTC regarding their violation of the CAN-SPAM act. While CAN-SPAM doesn't block spammers from sending junk email, it does put some regulations on it.

Initially Phoenix Avatar attempted to claim that the government was unable to prove they had sent any unwanted messages that were illegal. They suggested that their marketing affiliate partners had actually sent the spam on their behalf. Therefore, they weren't actually guilty of anything. A large portion of messages caught by spam email programs seem to come from affiliate advertising systems.

This raises a lot of questions regarding what responsibility companies have for those they employ. A U.S. District Court Judge held that since the company had solicited for spammers, they were in effect guilty of spamming. I'm kind of skeptical if this would hold up under the scrutiny of a higher court.

In the end, apparently Avatar wasn't convinced they're claims would hold up, as they reached the settlement. They are being subjected to fines of $230,000 and have agreed not to send any more unwanted email.

This is all of course besides the fact that they were pitching a good that was ultimately fake. In addition to sending email that may not be compliant with the law, frequently spammers engage in other fraudulent acts. As a rule, users should steer clear of any goods marketed via unsolicited email. Optimally they should install an application to filter spam in Outlook, or other email client of choice.

Back