AOL Takes Legal Action to Block Spamming Software Vendor.DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 1997-- Latest Step in Campaign to Protect Members from Unsolicited Mailings - Defendant Sending Millions of E-mails Touting "Get Rich Fast" Spam Software America Online See AOL. Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. ) took another step in its ongoing campaign to protect its nine million members from intrusive, unsolicited bulk e-mail from the Internet by filing suit in federal court (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia) on Friday to block electronic mailings from a Kentucky-based mass mailer The term mass mailer can refer to those computer worms that spread themselves via e-mail. More generally, the term is synonymous to (possibly legitimate) bulk email software. whose get-rich-fast "spam" mailings have accounted for millions of unsolicited e-mails sent to AOL members. AOL charges that Prime Data Worldnet Systems, Inc., and its proprietor, Vernon N. Hale, violated federal and Virginia state law by flooding the AOL system with millions of unsolicited e-mails. Prime Data's mass mailing to AOL members advertised computer software products designed to enable other Internet users to transmit their own junk e-mail See spam. to AOL and its members. The company said Hale and his firm also knowingly sent unsolicited bulk e-mail through multiple domains and deliberately sought to evade AOL's mail controls in order to send the unsolicited bulk mailings. AOL said that Prime Data and Hale ignored the company's repeated requests to desist from sending unsolicited bulk e-mails, and that Prime Data's use of deceptive AOL return addresses frustrated members' requests to be removed from spamming lists and implied falsely that America Online condoned his activities. Sent from domains with names such as "getrichfast.com" and "lotsofmoney.com," Hale's e-mails promised the capability to build lists consisting of "millions of e-mail addresses in a very short period of time" using "Floodgate" (as in "open the floodgates to AOL") software. Hale's e-mails also advertised "Stealth Mailer" software specifically designed to defeat AOL's unsolicited junk e-mail technology blocks. George Vradenburg, senior vice president and General Counsel of America Online, said, "Our message to Hale and other spammers is simple: We will pursue all legal remedies to protect our members and uphold the integrity of the AOL system." "Spam is an annoying intrusion for users of the Internet and the result is aggravation Any circumstances surrounding the commission of a crime that increase its seriousness or add to its injurious consequences. Such circumstances are not essential elements of the crime but go above and beyond them. and slower e-mail service See Internet e-mail service. , all because companies like Hale's Prime Data have not been held accountable for their flood of junk e-mail," continued Vradenburg. "The days of no accountability for spammers are over. We will make sure that spammers like Prime Data are held accountable to the law." The filing against Hale and Prime Data, which seeks punitive and compensatory damages A sum of money awarded in a civil action by a court to indemnify a person for the particular loss, detriment, or injury suffered as a result of the unlawful conduct of another. as well as injunctive relief injunctive relief n. a court-ordered act or prohibition against an act or condition which has been requested, and sometimes granted, in a petition to the court for an injunction. , charges that the defendants violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a law passed by the United States Congress in 1986 intended to reduce "hacking" of computer systems. It was amended in 1994, 1996 and in 2001 by the USA PATRIOT Act. , the Lanham Act The Lanham Act of 1946, also known as the Trademark Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 1051 et seq., ch. 540, 60 Stat. 427 [1988 & Supp. V 1993]), is a federal statute that regulates the use of Trademarks in commercial activity. and the Virginia Computer Crimes Act. The Company also charges that Prime Data trespassed on the AOL service in their unceasing sending of millions of unwanted and unsolicited junk e-mails to AOL members. The Prime Data suit is the second in recent weeks by AOL as part of its ongoing campaign to use legal action and sophisticated technologies to protect its members from unsolicited mail. Earlier this month, the company filed suit to block Las Vegas-based Over the Air Equipment Inc. from sending bulk e-mails which linked AOL members to their cyber-stripping sites on the World Wide Web. In February, ruling on an AOL-filed suit, a federal court in Philadelphia ordered CyberPromotions Inc. to cease using fictitious and unregistered domain addresses to send unsolicited e-mail to AOL member addresses. The court also ordered CyberPromotions to comply promptly with AOL members' requests for removal from its mailing lists, through the e-mail reply command. America Online Inc., based in Dulles, Va., is the world's leading Internet online service, with over nine million members worldwide. AOL, founded in 1985, offers its subscribers a wide variety of interactive services including electronic mail, Instant Message features, entertainment, reference, financial information, computing support, interactive magazines and newspapers, as well as easy access to all the services of the Internet. CONTACT: America Online Tricia Primrose, 703/265-1746 |
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