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Explore key trends in fighting spam from private party lawsuits to government actions and the impact of the CAN Spam Act. Learn about industry cooperation, criminal enforcement, victim actions, and the evolving spam landscape. Discover why defeating spam doesn't require 100% success and how filters and litigation play a crucial role.
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Latest Trends in the Legal Fight Against Spammers Spam Conference@MIT Cambridge, MA January 16, 2004 Jon Praed Internet Law Group jon.praed(at)i-lawgroup.com
Trends Summarized • Increasing Private Party Civil Suits • Increasing Attention from Government • Civil Suits • Spam Arrests • CAN Spam Act Takes Effect • Trends for the Year Ahead
Private Party Civil Suits • ISP Suits – AOL, Earthlink, MSN, Yahoo! • Increasing ease of success • Industry cooperation • Spoofing Victims Take Action – Amazon • 1 Degree of Kevin “Spam” Bacon • email lists & harvesters, spam software, spam houses, IP address providers, affiliates & defense counsel
Government Civil Suits • New York AG – Synergy6, Scott Richter • California AG • Federal Trade Commission • Learning curve & limited resources • Largely dependent on private party investigations
Spammer Arrests • New York AG • Howard Carmack “Buffalo Spammer” • identity theft and forgery • Virginia AG • Jeremy Jaynes aka “Gaven Stubberfield” & Richard Rutkowski • Virginia spam statute
CAN Spam Takes Effect • Little Immediate Impact on In-Box • But Does Reveal Spammers’ Motives • Chilling Effect on legitimate mailers and advertisers • Will Accelerate Run Offshore and the Market for IP addresses • Fights over pre-emption
Turning the Corner in 2004?Or Falling Behind? • Increasing criminal enforcement & industry cooperation • Maturing Spam Industry • Growth in blocked email is phenomenal • Porn spam led the way and is now slowing • Compromised computers & spam • Need for increased international cooperation
Why We Will Defeat Spam • Victory Doesn’t Require 100% Spam-Free In-Box • Banks survive bank robberies • Spammers Struggle on Increasingly Small Margins • Email is Still Incredibly Resilient • Email survives despite 60% spam rate • Spam is the Parasite, Email is the Host • If spam kills email, spam dies too • Filters + Lawsuits Work, and Spammers Know It
Questions ??? Latest Trends in the Legal Fight Against Spammers Spam Conference@MIT Cambridge, MA January 16, 2004 Jon Praed Internet Law Group jon.praed(at)i-lawgroup.com