PENALTIES FOR SPAMMING
Each violation is subject to fines of up to $11,000. Deceptive commercial email also is subject to laws banning false or misleading advertising.
Additional fines are provided for commercial emailers who not only violate the rules, but also:
* "harvest" email addresses from Web sites or Web services that have published a notice prohibiting the transfer of email addresses for the purpose of sending email
* Generate email addresses using a "dictionary attack" – combining names, letters, or numbers into multiple permutations
* Use scripts or other automated ways to register for multiple email or user accounts to send commercial email
* Relay emails through a computer or network without permission – for example, by taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without authorization.
The law allows the DOJ to seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for commercial emailers who do – or conspire to:
* Use another computer without authorization and send commercial email from or through it
* Use a computer to relay or retransmit multiple commercial email messages to deceive or mislead recipients or an Internet access service about the origin of the message
* Falsify header information in multiple email messages and initiate the transmission of such messages
* Register for multiple email accounts or domain names using information that falsifies the identity of the actual registrant
* Falsely represent themselves as owners of multiple Internet Protocol addresses that are used to send commercial email messages.




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