FC: NY suit aims to stop spammer, learn how addresses were harvested

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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.

###



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------