FTC v. Dugger

Citation: Federal Trade Comm'n v. Dugger, Civil No. CV-06-0078-PHX-ROS; FTC File No. 052-3161 (D. Ariz. Jan. 31, 2006).

Factual Background
The defendants used “spam zombies” &mdash; computers used without their owners’ knowledge or consent &mdash; to conceal the source of the sexually explicit spam. The FTC alleged that the defendants did not have authorization to use the “zombie” computers and that their spam violated provisions of the Adult Labeling Rule that prohibit sexually explicit images in the initially viewable area of an e-mail and that the label “SEXUALLY EXPLICIT:” appear in the subject line.

Settlement Agreement
The settlement with William Dugger, Angelina Johnson, and John Vitale required that they give up $8,000 in ill-gotten gains and barred them from violating the CAN-SPAM Act and the Adult Labeling Rule. It also requires that before they use third parties’ computers to send spam, they must obtain authorization from the computer’s owner and inform the owner how the computer will be used.