The Business of CANning SPAM

The FTC took a short break from the business of security breach enforcement to remind corporate America that commercial email (a/k/a spam) has its rules, and failing to abide by them has a price. In statement released on May 11, the FTC announced that both Kodak Imaging Network (formerly Ofoto, Inc.) and ICE.com had agreed to settle a series of CAN-SPAM charges brought against them in a pair of FTC complaints. According to the Commission, Kodak allegedly "sent a commercial e-mail message to more than two million recipients that failed to contain an opt-out mechanism, failed to disclose in the email message that consumers have the right to opt-out of receiving further mailings, and failed to include a valid physical postal address, as required by law." Meanwhile, ICE.com purportedly "sent more than 6,000 e-mail messages to consumers who had previously requested not to receive future commercial e-mail messages from the company." Neither company was hit with a very big fine ($26,331 for Kodak, and only $6,500 for ICE.com). But, in addition to agreeing not to violate CAN-SPAM again, both companies agreed to submit themselves to a series of FTC monitoring, record-keeping, and reporting provisions intended to keep them honest.
© Copyright 2006 Steptoe & Johnson LLP

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