Porn Firms Spanked for Spam

Petersko writes "Five pornography companies have agreed to pay $1.16 million in fines for sending spam e-mail without a warning that it contains sexually explicit material, U.S. regulators said Wednesday."

Thank you sir, may I have another!

[Leroy_Brown242]

"Porn Firms Spanked for Spam"

And they liked it.

Re:Thank you sir, may I have another!

[GypC]

Not only did they like it, they filmed it.

At $19.95 a month for a firmspankings.com membership it shouldn't take long to make their money back.

Re:Thank you sir, may I have another!

[Anonymous Coward]

$19.95 a month for a firmspankings.com membership? What did you just get the low end package?

Good thing it wasn't Utah or Minnesota

[Seumas]

These guys are getting off with a slap on the wrist considering the erection of new laws in certain states. They easily could have gotten a stiffer penalty and possibly done some hard time. Perhaps this will convince them to pull out of the spam game, though.

Re:Good thing it wasn't Utah or Minnesota

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, I believe the authorities weren't really hard on them. Perhaps it was an amateur judge? Let's touch wood and hope in future cases, they won't jerk about and let the spammers get off so lightly. It's a slippery slope, and the stream could become a river which could crash open the dyke. Anyway, spam already has penetrated Internet culture, and I'm quite anal about that. There's a bondage between Internet culture and pop culture, nowadays.

Re:Good thing it wasn't Utah or Minnesota

[tverbeek]

Perhaps it was an amateur judge?

You misspelled "amature".

Re:Good thing it wasn't Utah or Minnesota

[robzilla_au]

If theres a way of spelling it amature in a language other than english... maybe, but amateur is right in the english I know.

note: U.S. dialect may not be included.

Re:Good thing it wasn't Utah or Minnesota

[Per Wigren]

You forgot to emphasize "slippery"...

"Microsoft Corp helped in the investigation..."

[tyates]

the FTC said. Jeez, do I really have to say it? Okay, fine, I will. "Thank you, Microsoft." You can go back to suing ex-employees now.

I feel so left out

[consolidatedbord]

Where's my spanking? :(

Re:I feel so left out

[Anonymous Coward]

Too late, but you're just in time for the oral sex.

Merely a notch in the armor of Spam.

[deemaunik]

Yeah, 1.16 Million in damages. Meanwhile, notwithstanding that loss, they probably made ten to fifty times that in the carpet bombing. 1.16 Million is hardly a huge goal when it comes to lawsuits in the states. =/ Unfortunately.

what the hell...

[Mad_Rain]

How could the submitter send in this summary without the most important thing: Pictures! ;)

"Porn Firms Spanked for Spam"

[iignotus]

I don't even know where to start...

Hmm...

[SWATJester]

So does this mean that I won't get daily visits from hot barnyard babes willing to do anything I tell them for 4.95 a month?

So, can we see this spam?

[lightspawn]

Is the only problem with those emails the sexual content?

Were there no forged email headers? Was the unsubscribe link valid and not a source of more spam? Was the spam not sent from unsecured, unknowing mail servers? Was there no attempt to deceive recipients or get past spam blockers? Was the sender properly identified?

This should end with prison sentences, not a fine - but unless there's evil porn involved, good luck getting law enforcement even mildly interested.

Remember kids: if it's sex, it's bad. Otherwise, it's good. A simple rule, and easy to remember.

Have agreed to pay....

[cazbar]

Five pornography companies have agreed to pay $1.16 million in fines

Have agreed to pay? They get a choice?

Re:Have agreed to pay....

[DA-MAN]

Have agreed to pay? They get a choice?

Yes, they can pay the fine OR they can pay a lawyer, go to court, and lose the cost of the lawyer + cost of fine + court costs + incurred penalties.

Hmmmm

[scrwvwls]

Had they avoided sending spam unsoliticed they could have collaberated to make a very first in the whole of the pr0n industry: a big budget flick! Kleenex stock would like burgeon out of control (which would benefit me exceedingly) and on opening weekend every boy/man and husband less wily than myself would be gone for at least 30 minutes! That would leave plenty of time for me and the ladies. But...*sigh* unfortunately for now, I suppose I am/will remain a loser.

Good...

[rbarreira]

This is great, I just hope that money will be well used by the government :)

Windings

[Eternauta3k]

-But your honor, the warning was in windings!

New section needed:

[johnny_sas]

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