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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
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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