US FTC settles with e-mail marketer

Marketer Yesmail has agreed to pay a $50,717 civil penalty to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges accusing it of sending unsolicited commercial e-mail after recipients asked it to stop.

The FTC alleged that Yesmail, doing business as @Once, violated federal law by continuing to send unsolicited e-mail more than 10 business days after recipients asked that the e-mail stop.

In an ironic twist, Yesmail’s spam-filtering software filtered out some unsubscribe requests from recipients as spam, resulting in Yesmail failing to honor unsubscribe requests, the FTC said. Yesmail sent thousands of e-mails to recipients after they requested it stop, the FTC said when announcing the settlement Monday.

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Marketer Yesmail has agreed to pay a $50,717 civil penalty to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission charges accusing it of sending unsolicited commercial e-mail after recipients asked it to stop.

The FTC alleged that Yesmail, doing business as @Once, violated federal law by continuing to send unsolicited e-mail more than 10 business days after recipients asked that the e-mail stop.

In an ironic twist, Yesmail’s spam-filtering software filtered out some unsubscribe requests from recipients as spam, resulting in Yesmail failing to honor unsubscribe requests, the FTC said. Yesmail sent thousands of e-mails to recipients after they requested it stop, the FTC said when announcing the settlement Monday.

Yesmail did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment on the settlement.

The U.S. CAN-SPAM Act requires commercial e-mailers to give recipients an opt-out method and honor such requests within 10 business days. The law also bans false or misleading header information, prohibits deceptive subject lines, requires that commercial e-mail be identified as an advertisement, and requires the sender to include a valid physical postal address.

Under the proposed settlement, Yesmail is permanently prohibited from violating the CAN-SPAM Act, including failing to include in its e-mail a functioning return e-mail address or other mechanism that a recipient may use to decline future e-mail. The settlement also requires Yesmail disclose an opportunity to decline to receive e-mail, and prohibits it from sending e-mail more than 10 business days after a recipient has asked it to stop.

The complaint and order were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.