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| Computer users in Florida received unsolicited
emails from the Attorney General asking for political campaign
donations. |
According to media reports the
Attorney General of Florida, who has spearheaded a campaign against
spammers based in his state, has himself been accused of sending
spam.
Charlie Crist, who has warned state residents of email scams,
identity fraud, and applauded the shutting down of two Tampa-based
spammers earlier this month, is a candidate for the Republican
nomination for Governor of Florida. Some residents are now saying
they have received unsolicited emails from Crist, promoting his
gubernatorial campaign, and urging them to donate funds.
Joe Spooner, a 41-year-old resident, told the St Petersburg
Times that he had no idea how his email address had fallen into the
hands of the Crist campaign, but he had repeatedly tried to
unsubscribe. After his fifth unsuccessful request to be removed,
Spooner sent the campaign an email of his own accusing Crist of
hypocrisy after his tough public crackdown on other spammers, and
has now been removed from the mailing list.
Others have complained that Crist was misusing state property
and resources by sending the political emails.
"This is not spam. This is truthful, it's straight forward.
We're honest. To be spam it has to be, under Florida law, defined
as being deceptive," said Vivian Myrtetus, a spokeswoman for
Crist's campaign. "The attorney general does not consider this spam
and is, as you know, at the forefront of protecting citizens
against that."
Sophos believes that the controversy in Florida highlights a
fundamental flaw in the CAN-SPAM act which legislates against
unsolicited nuisance email.
"Although the CAN-SPAM act has helped catch some spammers, and
driven some to base their operations overseas, it has an obvious
flaw: it relies on people to 'opt-out' of receiving spam rather
than 'opt-in' in the first place," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant. "Regardless of whether his email campaign is
legal or not, there is no doubt that this has backfired for the
attorney general and he has drifted into political hot water by
annoying internet users with his unsolicited emails. We would call
upon everyone to not just follow the letter of the law, but to rise
above it and adopt higher standards when it comes to email
communications."
For more information about the latest trends in spam and
viruses, read the in-depth Sophos Security Threat Management Report
2005:
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More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.