The campaign would mark the first time the consumer-protection agency has specifically targeted spam as the focus of a law enforcement investigation, said Howard Beales, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

“What we are in the process of doing for the first time is to launch a systematic attack on fraudulent and deceptive spam,” Beales told attendees at the 2nd Annual Privacy & Date Security Summit in Washington, D.C., today.

“We are also working on (spam) cases that involve claims that you can opt out, when in fact what clicking on the link to unsubscribe will do is simply verify that you have a valid e-mail address, so that you can then get lots of spam instead of a little,” Beales said.

The FTC hopes to announce the first wave of enforcement cases against spammers next week. The action is being timed to dovetail with the agency’s third annual observance of National Consumer Protection Week. This year’s focus is on consumer privacy, both online and offline, Beales said.

The enforcement action looms as several business and consumer privacy groups are working to self-regulate the online direct marketing industry.

Later today, Microsoft Corp., Web banner ad giant DoubleClick, and a host of direct marketers will announce their intent to begin using a technology created to help consumers quickly distinguish between spam and valid e-mails from companies they trust.

The technology’s debut has helped push the Direct Marketing Association to tighten its e-mail privacy standards for its 2,000 member companies. On Monday, the DMA is expected to announce sweeping changes to its e-mail marketing policy require the expulsion of member companies that do not adhere to the group’s new standards.

Under the new rules, DMA member companies will be required to give consumers notice and choice before sending e-mail solicitations or selling or sharing their e-mail address with third parties. The DMA also plans to require that member companies clearly identify themselves in each e-mail, and accurately describe the subject of the e-mail in the message header. In addition, each e-mail must include a notice that allows the recipient to opt out of further communications from the sender.

The FTC is taking action against deceptive spammers in part because of a consumer backlash: the FTC receives approximately 10,000 individual pieces of spam every day from irate consumers who forward the unbidden missives to the agency, Beales said.

The FTC invites consumers to forward any deceptive e-mail they receive to: uce@ftc.gov

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com

09:57 CST
Reposted 09:57 CST