3 Web Sites Closed in Spam Inquiry (original) (raw)
Business|3 Web Sites Closed in Spam Inquiry
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/12/business/3-web-sites-closed-in-spam-inquiry.html
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- March 12, 2002
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March 12, 2002
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Section C, Page
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A federal court has ordered the closing of the Web sites of three companies that used e-mail messages to sell an estimated $1 million worth of nonexistent Web addresses, federal officials said yesterday.
The court's actions came at the request of the Federal Trade Commission as part of the agency's most aggressive move in its campaign against unsolicited commercial e-mail messages, or spam.
Over the last two years, the commission has sent cease-and-desist letters to dozens of companies that send what the F.T.C. considers to be deceptive e-mail, and it has reached a number of settlements. But this was the first legal filing by the agency.
On Feb. 28, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, in Chicago, issued an injunction that suspended the registration of the Web sites www.dotusa .com, www.dotsex.com and www.dotstore.com.
The commission said that over the last eight months, the sites had been selling other Web sites whose addresses ended in fictional suffixes like ''.usa,'' ''.sex.'' and ''.store'' for $59 each.
The commission's complaint named three British companies, TLD Network, Quantum Management and TBS Industries. In addition, the complaint named two men who controlled the companies: Thomas Goolnik and Edward Harris Goolnik of London. The British Office of Fair Trading has been cooperating with the Federal Trade Commission in the investigation.
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