Security news11 August 2006
Michigan law chief charges companies with spamming children
Spam emails about gambling and pornography can be received by children's computers
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have reminded companies of the importance of obeying anti-spam laws following the announcement of legal action being taken against two companies accused of sending unsolicited email about gambling and alcoholic drinks to children.
According to Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, RR Media Inc. of Cathedral City, California, and Data Stream Group Inc. of Bonita Springs, Florida, sent emails with the intention of enticing children to visit gambling websites and promoted alcoholic beverages.
The messages are said to have been sent to children's e-mail addresses registered under Michigan's Child Protection Registry Act. The act requires companies to check the registry to remove children's email addresses before sending messages advertising goods or services that children cannot legally buy (such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling and pornography).
"Parents don't want their children to be bombarded with adverts for gambling and porn websites, or have alcohol and tobacco pushed upon them via spam. Companies who refuse to abide by the rules regulating email communications can expect short shrift from the authorities," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "But spam is a problem for children around the globe, not just in Michigan, and more needs to be done to stamp it out."
If found guilty, the companies could be fined up to $10,000 and receive other penalties for violating the Child Protection Registry Act. Michigan and Utah are the only American states that have adopted a registry law.
Sophos recommends companies automatically update their corporate virus protection, and run a consolidated solution at the email gateway to defend against viruses, spyware and spam.
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About Sophos
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.
