ATLANTA, -- Oct. 28, 2004 -- EarthLink, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, today announced it has filed a new lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta as part of its continuing fight against spam. The announcement was made in conjunction with EarthLink’s anti-spam partners AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo!, who also filed lawsuits today against spammers in courts in Virginia, Washington State and California.
In a lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, EarthLink charges John Does 1 - 25 (“the Mortgage Lead Spammers”) and John Does 26 - 50 (“the Drug Spammers”) with violating the federal 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. According to EarthLink’s complaint, the defendants have used deceptive and illegal methods to send millions of spam e-mails advertising prescription drugs and low mortgage or loan rates.
In its complaint, EarthLink charges the defendants with violating the CAN- SPAM Act by:
-- Falsifying “from” e-mail addresses (spoofing)
-- Using deceptive subject lines
-- Failing to include a physical address in the e-mail
-- Failing to provide an electronic opt-out option
-- Falsifying the e-mail header information
-- Illegally selling, leasing or giving away consumers’ names and e-mail
addresses
-- Using open proxies to transmit spam e-mail
-- Using automated programs to generate possible e-mail addresses by
combining names, letters and numbers into numerous combinations
(dictionary attacks)
“Enforcement actions against spammers, including litigation and cooperation with our industry peers, continues to be an important component in the fight against spam. EarthLink’s legal efforts to stop spam have helped put spammers out of business, and, in the case of Howard Carmack, have shown that there are real criminal consequences for sending illegal junk e-mails. We remain committed to using the law, along with technical solutions, consumer education and legislative support, to stop the flow of spam and enhance the Internet experience for all users,” said Les Seagraves, assistant general counsel and chief privacy officer for EarthLink.
According to EarthLink’s lawsuit, the mortgage lead spammers send junk e-mails to solicit contact information from consumers by touting low mortgage or loan rates. The spammers then sell the consumers’ names and contact information to other mortgage lead sellers, or “legitimate” mortgage and finance companies, who in turn attempt to sell their services to the people identified in the purchased leads. Some of the domains used by the mortgage lead spammers include homeloanbasics.net, numortgage.com, manygoodthings.info and yougetbestin40years.com.
EarthLink’s complaint charges the drug spammers with using illegal e-mails to advertise (“spamvertise”) Web sites at which Internet users (including those who have not seen a doctor and do not have a legitimate prescription) can buy prescription drugs. Many of the prescription drugs have originated from locations overseas and lack authenticity safeguards. Some of the domains used by the Drug Spammers include 234medic.com, allmedinfo.biz, cheappharm3.com and hotrxmedsspecials.com.
At the same time, America Online filed two lawsuits in federal court - both naming numerous “John Does” as Defendants and alleging violations of federal and state laws. One lawsuit is the very first to expressly target “SPIM” for AOL, and the most significant “spimmer” lawsuit ever filed in the industry, as it addresses instant messenger spam and chat room spam. The next lawsuit is the first AOL enforcement action against a spammer peddling controlled substances, including Vicodin and other pharmaceuticals, which are legally available only with a physician’s prescription.
Today’s three lawsuits filed by Microsoft allege that defendants spoofed the domains of all four Internet service providers and used open proxies to route the emails. The defendants — one named and two “John Does” — allegedly sent millions of emails soliciting herbal growth supplements, mortgage services and get-rich-quick schemes, all in violation of the CAN-SPAM federal law.
Yahoo! filed a lawsuit against East Coast Exotics Entertainment Group, Inc. and Epoth LLC for disguising their identity, designing messages to circumvent spam filters, and using sexually-explicit subject lines to send unsolicited sexually-oriented spam e-mail messages. Violations were filed under the CAN-SPAM Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Computer Crime Statute and the civil conspiracy law.
This is the second round of junk e-mail-related enforcement actions filed by the anti-spam alliance, which was founded in April 2003 and is led by AOL, EarthLink, Microsoft and Yahoo! On March 10, 2004, these companies collaborated to file the first major industry lawsuits against spammers alleging violations under the new CAN-SPAM Act, which went into effect on January 1st, 2004.
On the technical side, these companies collaborated in June to present a host of detailed best practices and technical recommendations for the entire industry in an effort to fight the scourge of spam. Their proposals recommended actions and policies for the entire online industry - and primarily focused on two key issues: helping solve the e-mail forgery problem by eliminating domain spoofing through cryptographic-based and Internet Protocol (IP)-based solutions; and providing best practices to help prevent ISPs and their customers from being sources of spam.
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 lawsuit is the latest example of the ISP’s multi-faceted fight against spam. Last year, 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. That same month, EarthLink won 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 eventual criminal conviction by the New York Attorney General’s office on charges related to his spamming.
A full text of EarthLink’s lawsuit is available at http://earthlink.net/about/press/spamlawsuit.pdf . Additional details of all four companies’ lawsuits are available on their respective company press Web sites.
About Earthlink
“EarthLink revolves around you(TM).” Celebrating ten years as a leading national Internet service provider (ISP), Atlanta-based EarthLink has earned an award-winning reputation for outstanding customer service and its suite of online products and services. According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Internet Service Provider Residential Customer Satisfaction Study(SM), EarthLink is ranked highest in customer satisfaction among dial up and high- speed Internet Service Providers. Serving over five million subscribers, EarthLink offers what every user should expect from their Internet experience: high-quality connectivity, minimal drop-offs and ISP-generated intrusions, and customizable features. Whether it’s dial-up, high-speed, Web hosting, or wireless Internet service, EarthLink provides the tools that best let individuals use and enjoy the Internet on their own terms. Learn more about EarthLink by calling (800) EARTHLINK or visiting EarthLink’s Web site at www.earthlink.net .
