9th Circuit Weighs in on CFAA and CAN-SPAM The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) provides civil and criminal penalties against come who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access and thereby obtains . . . information from any protected computer.” 18 U.S.C.§ 1030(a)(2). Courts have struggled over what is the role of…
Michigan Email Law Preempted Under CAN-SPAM A Michigan Federal Court dismissed a complaint under Michigan’s commercial email statute finding that it was preempted by the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. As interpreted, the federal law only permits state regulation dealing with material falsity or deception in emails, but the court found that the Michigan law was…
IN THE COURTS Zip and Spam California Supreme Court Rules Zip Codes Are Private The Song-Beverly Credit Card prohibits a retailer from requiring or requesting that a consumer provide certain personal information. In a surprise decision, the Supreme Court held that a consumer’s zip code fell within the reach of the statute. As there are…
In Kleffman v. Vonage, the California Supreme Court flat out rejected a popular contention by professional anti-spam litigants (aka “Spamigators”) that the use of multiple domain names or nonsensical domain names was not deceptive so as to trigger liability under California’s email marketing law. While some viewed this as a setback in the fight against…
Weeks after winning a $2.6 million CAN-SPAM default judgment which it has little chance of collecting, Asis Internet Services was ordered to pay over $800,000 in attorneys fees for pursuing baseless claims under the CAN-SPAM. The court explained, ” Rather, it is apparent that Asis sued Azoogle based on little more than speculation that there might…
TOP STORIES OF 2009 ZERO HOUR APPROACHING ON PRIVACY; NINTH CIRCUIT SHUTS DOOR TO LITIGATION MILLS & NEGATIVE OPTION CRACK DOWN Zero Hour on Privacy Throughout the year, the FTC ratcheted up the rhetoric that action was imminent if the online advertising industry did not move to provide greater privacy safeguards for behavioral targeting. The year ended with…
Excerpt of 9th Circuit Opinion in Asis v. Azoogle
Spammers Alan Ralsky (“Godfather of Spam”) – 51 months in federal prison for fraud and CAN-SPAM violations Sanford Wallace (“Spam King”) – $711 million in damages to Facebook for CAN-SPAM violations Lance Atkinson (New Zealand’s King of Spam and leader of world’s largest spam gang) – $15.5 million default judgment for CAN-SPAM violations. Atkinson’s US…
In upholding the conviction of two porn spammers under CAN-SPAM, the 9th Circuit briefly addressed the question of private domain registrations which conceal registration information absent a subpoena. In U.S. v. Kilbride, the court stated clearly that “private registration for the purpose of concealing the actual registrant’s identity would constitute “material falsification’” under the CAN-SPAM…
Email Cases in Brief The Free Speech Coalition ended its four year legal battle against Utah’s child email registry law by declaring victory – as the law has proven a financial disaster for both Michigan and Utah and no state has joined their ranks in the intreim – and dismissing its complaint. See Direct Magazine article.…
Sears, Overstock Pay Price for Inadequate Consumer Notice Sears initiated a program where consumers visiting Sears.com and Kmart.com could become members of the “My SHC Community.” Members were paid $10 to participate in return for downloading a toolbar that would track their “online browsing.” The toolbar did more than that, however, collecting information such as…
Cyber Report 