FTC Settles with Alleged Porn Spammers

Read more commentary from Ken Magill

The Federal Trade Commission announced today it has reached a settlement with two men it accused of using affiliates to send pornographic spam that contained false or misleading header information, no physical return address and no opt-out mechanism—all violations of the Can Spam Act.

According to the FTC, since at least January 2006, ATM Global Systems and its proprietors, Mark Richman and Nathaniel Seidman, used affiliates to drive traffic to pornographic Websites such as SexyFriendSearch.com, where they collected money for memberships.

The settlement bars future violations of the Can Spam Act and requires the defendants to monitor their affiliates for compliance with the law. It also imposed a judgment of $442,000—the amount the defendants made from spam—that will be suspended provided they pay a fine of $75,000, according to the FTC.

The FTC voted to approve the settlement—which is not necessarily an admission of guilt—unanimously.