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  • From: Steven Champeon <schampeo AT hesketh.com>
  • To: InterNetWorkers <internetworkers AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: FW: FC: NY suit aims to stop spammer, learn how addresses were harvested
  • Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 02:02:06 -0400



Now *this* case is worth following.

----- Forwarded message from Declan McCullagh <declan AT well.com> -----

X-Delivered-To: <schampeo AT hesketh.com>
Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 12:52:41 -0400
From: Declan McCullagh <declan AT well.com>
To: politech AT politechbot.com
Subject: FC: NY suit aims to stop spammer, learn how addresses were harvested
X-Procmail-Rule: politech



http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/may/may28a_02.html

Department of Law
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
Department of Law
The State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

For More Information:
(518) 473-5525 For Immediate Release
May 28, 2002

STATE LAWSUIT SEEKS TO END SPAM EMAILS SENT BY NIAGARA FALLS COMPANY
Spitzer Says Company Sent More than 500 Million Unsolicited Messages
to Consumers

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today filed a lawsuit against a Niagara
Falls-based "spammer" that sent hundreds of millions of emails to
consumers whom it falsely claimed had requested the emails.

"Every day New Yorkers are being inundated with unsolicited commercial
emails, or spam," Spitzer said. "Some of the spam is a vehicle for
fraud, some of the spam is inherently fraudulent, and much of it
constitutes a real annoyance for email user. This lawsuit is the next
battle in our continuing fight against online fraud, and an attempt to
help consumers maintain control of their email in-boxes."

MonsterHut, Inc., its Chief Executive Officer Todd Pelow and its Chief
Technical Officer Gary Hartl, are accused of fraudulently advertising
and representing the company's email marketing service as "permission
based" or "opt-in," meaning that every consumer to whom they send
commercial email has explicitly asked to receive it. In fact, the suit
alleges, the company's email lists are only partly "opt-in," and
include many consumers who never asked to receive email from the
company. The suit also alleges that this false representation of
MonsterHut's business practices enabled the company to profit through
the deception its Internet access provider, its own paid advertisers,
and consumers at large.

The suit alleges that since March 2001, MonsterHut has flooded
consumers' email in-boxes with more than 500 million commercial
emails, advertising a variety of goods and services. At the same time,
negative consumer response to MonsterHut's spam has been overwhelming.
More than 750,000 consumers have requested to be removed from
MonsterHut's mailing lists, and tens of thousands have complained to
MonsterHut's internet access provider, PaeTec Communications, Inc., of
Rochester.

Earlier this month, PaeTec cut off MonsterHut from its network, after
a New York appeals court held that MonsterHut had violated an
anti-spamming provision in its contract with PaeTec. However, nothing
in that decision prevented MonsterHut from spamming consumers through
another internet service provider.
"We are seeking to prevent MonsterHut from continuing its fraudulent,
deceptive and illegal practices, not just over PaeTec's network, but
over any ISP in New York," Spitzer said.

The Attorney General is seeking a court order to:
* Enjoin MonsterHut, Pelow, and Hartl from falsely representing the
nature of their unsolicited commercial email;
* Require MonsterHut, Pelow and Hartl to disclose how it obtained
all the consumers' email addresses; and
* Require MonsterHut, Pelow and Hartl to pay civil penalties and
court costs for its violations of New York's consumer protection
laws.

This case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Kline
of Attorney General Spitzer's Internet Bureau.

###



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  • FW: FC: NY suit aims to stop spammer, learn how addresses were harvested, Steven Champeon, 05/30/2002

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