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US laws dictate that hardcore messages must
include an explicit label.
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Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have welcomed
news that a man has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the
sending of spam containing graphic pornographic images.
Kirk Rogers, 42, of Manhattan Beach, California, was charged
following complaints that hundreds of thousands of spam messages
had been sent promoting adult pornographic websites. He pleaded
guilty at a federal court in Phoenix, Arizona, to one count under
the CAN-SPAM Act, and agreed to forfeit money obtained in the
commission of the crimes. Rogers faces a maximum sentence of five
years in prison for the offense.
"Firm action is required by the authorities to send a strong
message to spammers that their activities are unacceptable," said
Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant for Sophos. "The US computer crime
forces should be congratulated for catching someone else who was
contributing to the menace of spam email."
According to the plea agreement entered at the court, Rogers
developed, and then managed the computer system used to transmit
the spam emails on behalf of Jeffrey A. Kilbride, of Venice,
California, and James R. Schaffer, of Paradise Valley, Arizona.
According to an earlier indictment, Kilbride and Schaffer conspired
to send spam emails. America Online is said to have received more
than 600,000 complaints between 30 January and 9 June 2004 from
users regarding spam allegedly been sent by the operation. Kilbride
and Schaffer's trial is scheduled to begin on 2 May 2006.
Under US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules spammers must include the
warning 'SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT: ' in the subject lines of their
pornographic emails or face fines. Spammers who do not clearly
label their sexually orientated messages are in violation of
federal law.
"The FTC guidelines on marking sexually explicit spam are
unpopular amongst the spammers, because it makes it easier to
identify unsolicited hardcore messages and prevent them from
reaching users. Anything which makes life less profitable for
spammers has to be good news for all of us," continued Cluley.
Kirk Rogers is scheduled to be sentenced on 5 June 2006.
Sophos recommends that companies protect their email gateways
with a consolidated solution to defend
against viruses and spam, as well as apply an email policy that
filters unsolicited executable code at the gateway. Businesses
should also secure their desktop and servers with automatically
updated protection.
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.