America Online launched the latest salvo
in its anti-spam war this week with a new lawsuit that targets three junk
e-mail firms.
Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the suit
seeks an injunction aimed at preventing the companies from sending large
amounts of unsolicited e-mail to AOL members.
In a statement released today, AOL named the companies as IMS of Knoxville,
TN; Gulf Coast Marketing of Baton Rouge, LA; and TSF Marketing and TSF
Industries of Riverside, CA.
The AOL suit claims the companies refused to stop sending unsolicited bulk
e-mail to AOL members and employed deceptive techniques to evade AOL’s junk
e-mail detection and filtering mechanisms.
AOL alleges that the bulk e-mailers also forged the “aol.com” domain within
e-mail messages, creating a “misperception” among AOL members regarding the
online service’s stance on unsolicited bulk e-mail.
AOL also charges that TSF Marketing and TSF Industries have violated the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in their harvesting of AOL screen names.
This latest suit follows AOL’s successful court action against junk e-mail
firm Over the Air Equipment Inc. in December.