February 9, 2005 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – ISP EarthLink, today announced four lawsuits in its continuing fight against spam. The lawsuits identify defendants in California, Florida, Nevada and Washington state, as well as John Doe defendants.
“EarthLink is committed to protecting the Internet,” said Larry Slovensky, assistant general counsel for EarthLink. “We will continue to pursue litigation, technical solutions, consumer education and legislative support to help ensure the quality of the Internet experience for all users.”
In litigation filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta last month, EarthLink charges the defendants in all four lawsuits with violating the CAN-SPAM Act and various other state and federal statutes, including the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act and state and federal racketeering laws, among others. A summary of each lawsuit is included below.
Specific CAN-SPAM violations alleged include:
• Falsifying “from” e-mail addresses (spoofing)
• Failing to include a physical address in the e-mail
• Deceptive subject lines
• False and misleading header information
• Failing to provide an electronic unsubscribe option
• Failing to identify the sender as required
• Using automated programs to generate possible e-mail addresses by combining names, letters and numbers into numerous combinations (dictionary attacks)
• Using scripts used to register for multiple electronic e-mail or online user accounts
As in previous cases, EarthLink is asking for injunctive relief that will prevent the defendants from illegally spamming any Internet user, regardless of the user’s ISP. EarthLink is also seeking unspecified damages.
EarthLink’s lawsuits are the latest example of the ISP’s multi-faceted fight against spam. In 2003, EarthLink launched spamBlocker, becoming the first major ISP to provide a permission-based spam-fighting tool that blocks virtually 100 percent of all junk e-mail. Last year, EarthLink launched ScamBlocker™, a free tool that helps protect consumers against online identity theft from “phisher” spam e-mail messages.
EarthLink has sued and won multi-million dollar judgments against spammers, including a $16.4 million judgment and injunctive relief against Howard Carmack, aka the “Buffalo Spammer,” shutting down an operation that had generated more than 825 million spam e-mails on the Internet. EarthLink's pursuit of Carmack led to his criminal conviction by the New York Attorney General's office on charges related to his spamming.
Earthlink is suing;
Gregory Lars Alsing d/b/a Parcelship.com, and Impression Media, Inc., for allegedly sending hundreds of thousands of fraudulent e-mails in 2004 advertising cable descramblers that promised to let users watch unlimited pay-per-view cable programming without paying, as well as fraudulent college diploma spam. In addition, the lawsuit charges the defendants with using text randomizers to insert long passages of gibberish in messages in attempts to evade EarthLink’s spam filters.
Sunrise, Florida, and Craig S. Brockwell of Miami, Florida for allegedly sending hundreds of thousands of deceptive spams advertising discount ink jet printer cartridges and other printer supplies.
Christina Reese; YamboCS, Inc.; Angela M. Nickerson d/b/a YamboCS.com and “John Does 4 – 25” for allegedly sending tens of thousands of fraudulent and deceptive e-mails advertising pornographic Web sites.
Peter Moshou of Auburndale and “John Does 3 – 25” for allegedly sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited commercial e-mails throughout 2004 and 2005 soliciting contact information by offering brokerage services for people interested in selling their timeshares.
