Company Settles Spam Charges

Filed in archive Spam News on March 7, 2008

An adult website has agreed to pay $413,000 to settle charges it allowed its affiliates to send porn spam to unsuspecting recipients. Arizona based Cyberheat was accused by the FTC of exposing children to sexually explicit images and violating the Adult Labeling Rule and CAN-SPAM Act. Both require bulk e-mailers to warn recipients of sexually explicit content by putting the phrase "sexually explicit" in the subject line and making sure the first viewable part of the email does not contain any such images. The company is also accused of not providing adequate opt-out means and not providing a postal address. Both are violations of the CAN-SPAM Act. While the company did not directly e-mail consumers, it ran an affiliate marketing program and is being held responsible for the violations committed by those affiliates
Cyberheat is the 6th company to settle porn spam complaints with the FTC in the last 4 years.