FBI plans spammer smackdown
Friday, 21 May 2004 10:18 EST
It's been nearly six months since President Bush signed the first federal spam law with criminal sanctions--and not one bulk e-mailer has been criminally charged under it so far. But the FBI told Congress on Thursday that it has "identified over 100 significant spammers" so far and is targeting 50 of the most noxious for potential prosecution later this year. "Such cases may be investigated and prosecuted as computer intrusion matters, or as online cyberfrauds which may lend themselves to a variety of existing state or federal statutes, including the recently passed Can-Spam Act," Jana Monroe, the FBI's assistant director of the cyber division, told the Senate Commerce Committee.
She didn't offer much in the way of details, except to say that an "initiative is being projected for later this year in which it is anticipated that criminal and civil actions under the Can-Spam Act of 2003 will be included."
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