TUCSON, AZ — Is it warm in here or is a $413,000 fine just enough dollars to really heat up a room? Whichever it is, accused porn spammer Cyberheat will be coughing up that much cash as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which means it when it says it does not like spam. The Arizona-based company is the sixth since 2005 to feel the sting of the FTC’s anti-spam regulations. A seventh company is currently under investigation, according to PC World.
Network Work reports that nearly 2 million dollars in civil penalties have been levied against companies including BangBros.com Inc, MD Media, APC Entertainment, Inc., Pure Marketing Solutions, LLC, and Internet Matrix Technology.
At issue is unsolicited email of a very adult nature, which is deemed to be the equivalent of “electronic flashing” by the FTC, since it could be seen by minors and others uninterested in explicit images.
Although Cyberheat itself was not responsible for the mass mailing that generated the FTC complaint, the company was deemed under the CAN-SPAM Act to be responsible for the behavior of its affiliate partners, which did indulge in the forbidden marketing technique. As PC World explains it, the FTC reasons that Cyberheat “induced” its affiliates because it rewarded those who sent converting traffic to its pay sites.
In addition to paying the civil penalty, Cyberheat may not use spam email marketing, and must monitor its affiliates to make sure they’re in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act. The spam in question did not include the FTC’s Adult Labeling Rule and CAN SPAM Act mandatory phrase “sexually explicit” in the subject line. Graphic sexual images must also be placed so that they are not in an initially viewable area of the email.
As well as omitting the “sexually explicit” label from its subject line, the affiliate spam in question lacked appropriate opt-out mechanisms, as well as a company postal address, both of which are required by the CAN-SPAM Act.
AdultFriendFinder.com recently found itself on the wrong side of the FTC, which ruled that “The World’s Largest Sex & Swingers Personal Community” and its affiliates could no longer use sexually explicit pop-up ads. Search engine terms including “flowers, travel,” and “vacations” would return results for the site, thus exposing all manner of inappropriate Web denizens to not only unwanted sexual imagery but also spyware and adware, in some cases.
