While the Federal Trade Commission to date has focused exclusively on fraud schemes in its anti-spam enforcement efforts, with an occasional dabbling with pornography, that might be about to change. Recipients of spam consider the junk email more of a convenience issue, where the government has typically focused more on the narrow category of criminal enterprises that happen to use spam. In the meantime, legitimate companies have been able to make non-fraudulent offers via spam with near impunity. But ClickZ's Pam Parker reports that one FTC official said that the Commission is 'likely' to start prosecuting what normal people consider spam, under the 2003 Can-Spam Act. Staff Attorney Lisa Rosenthal said at a conference on Friday 'It's likely we'll be looking at legitimate companies.' She noted the requirements to include postal addresses and include working opt-out mechanisms."

FTC to (Finally) Use Anti-Spam Laws Against Spam, Not Fraud Posted by: DTB at 1:55 PM  |  Permalink