Chapter 15
Spam - ANS-Businesses and individuals alike are targets of spam. Spam is the unsolicited "junk
e-mail" that floods virtual mailboxes with advertisements, solicitations, and other messages.
Considered relatively harmless in the early days of the Internet, by 2013 spam accounted for
roughly 75 percent of all e-mails.
Spam: State Regulations - ANS-In an attempt to combat spam, thirty-six states have enacted
laws that prohibit or regulate its use. Many state laws that regulate spam require the senders of
e-mail ads to instruct the recipients on how they can "opt out" of further e-mail ads from the
same sources. For instance, in some states, an unsolicited e-mail must include a toll-free phone
number or return e-mail address that the recipient can use to ask the sender to send no more
unsolicited e-mails.
Spam: Feder Can-Spam Act - ANS-In 2003, Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of
Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act. The legislation applies to any
"commercial electronic mail messages" that are sent to promote a commercial product or
service. Significantly, the statute preempts state antispam laws except for those provisions in
state laws that prohibit false and deceptive e-mailing practices.
Generally, the act permits the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail but prohibits certain
types of spamming activities. Prohibited activities include the use of a false return address and
the use of false, misleading, or deceptive information when sending e-mail. The statute also
prohibits the use of "dictionary attacks"—sending messages to randomly generated e-mail
addresses—and the "harvesting" of e-mail addresses from Web sites through the use of
specialized software.
Arresting prolific spammers, however, has done little to curb spam, which continues to flow at a
rate of 70 billion messages per day.
The U.S Safe Web Act - ANS-After the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 prohibited false and deceptive
e-mails originating in the United States, spamming from servers located in other nations
increased. These cross-border spammers generally were able to escape detection and legal
sanctions because the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lacked the authority to investigate
foreign spamming.
Congress sought to rectify the situation by enacting the U.S. Safe Web Act (also known as the
Undertaking Spam, Spyware, and Fraud Enforcement with Enforcers Beyond Borders Act). The
act allows the FTC to cooperate and share information with foreign agencies in investigating
and prosecuting those involved in spamming, spyware, and various Internet frauds and
deceptions.
, The Safe Web Act also provides a "safe harbor" for Internet service providers (ISPs)—that is,
organizations that provide access to the Internet. The safe harbor gives ISPs immunity from
liability for supplying information to the FTC concerning possible unfair or deceptive conduct in
foreign jurisdictions.
Domain Names - ANS-As e-commerce expanded worldwide, one issue that emerged involved
the rights of a trademark owner to use the mark as part of a domain name. A domain name is
part of an Internet address, such as "cengage.com."
Domain Names: Structure - ANS-Every domain name ends with a generic top-level domain
(TLD), which is the part of the name to the right of the period that often indicates the type of
entity that operates the site. For instance, com is an abbreviation for commercial, and edu is
short for education.
The second-level domain (SLD)—the part of the name to the left of the period—is chosen by the
business entity or individual registering the domain name. Competition for SLDs among firms
with similar names and products has led to numerous disputes. By using an identical or similar
domain name, parties have attempted to profit from a competitor's goodwill (the nontangible
value of a business). For instance, a party might use a similar domain name to sell pornography,
offer for sale another party's domain name, or otherwise infringe on others' trademarks.
Domain Names: Distribution System - ANS-The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit corporation, oversees the distribution of domain names and
operates an online arbitration system. Due to numerous complaints, ICANN completely
overhauled the domain name distribution system.
In 2012, ICANN started selling new generic toplevel domain names (gTLDs) for an initial price of
$185,000 plus an annual fee of $25,000. Whereas TLDs were limited to only a few terms (such
as "com," "net," and "org"), gTLDs can take any form. By 2013, many companies and
corporations had acquired gTLDs based on their brands, such as .aol, .bmw, .canon, .gap,
.target, .toyota, and .walmart. Some companies have numerous gTLDs. Google's gTLDs, for
instance, include .android, .chrome, .gmail, .goog, and .YouTube.
Cybersquatting - ANS-One of the goals of the new gTLD system is to alleviate the problem of
cybersquatting. Cybersquatting occurs when a person registers a domain name that is the same
as, or confusingly similar to, the trademark of another and then offers to sell the domain name
back to the trademark owner.
Cybersquatting: Anticybersquatting Legislation: - ANS-Because cyber-squatting has led to so
much litigation, Congress enacted the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA),
which amended the Lanham Act—the federal law protecting trademarks, discussed in Chapter
14. The ACPA makes cybersquatting illegal when both of the following are true:
--The name is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark of another.
Spam - ANS-Businesses and individuals alike are targets of spam. Spam is the unsolicited "junk
e-mail" that floods virtual mailboxes with advertisements, solicitations, and other messages.
Considered relatively harmless in the early days of the Internet, by 2013 spam accounted for
roughly 75 percent of all e-mails.
Spam: State Regulations - ANS-In an attempt to combat spam, thirty-six states have enacted
laws that prohibit or regulate its use. Many state laws that regulate spam require the senders of
e-mail ads to instruct the recipients on how they can "opt out" of further e-mail ads from the
same sources. For instance, in some states, an unsolicited e-mail must include a toll-free phone
number or return e-mail address that the recipient can use to ask the sender to send no more
unsolicited e-mails.
Spam: Feder Can-Spam Act - ANS-In 2003, Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of
Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act. The legislation applies to any
"commercial electronic mail messages" that are sent to promote a commercial product or
service. Significantly, the statute preempts state antispam laws except for those provisions in
state laws that prohibit false and deceptive e-mailing practices.
Generally, the act permits the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail but prohibits certain
types of spamming activities. Prohibited activities include the use of a false return address and
the use of false, misleading, or deceptive information when sending e-mail. The statute also
prohibits the use of "dictionary attacks"—sending messages to randomly generated e-mail
addresses—and the "harvesting" of e-mail addresses from Web sites through the use of
specialized software.
Arresting prolific spammers, however, has done little to curb spam, which continues to flow at a
rate of 70 billion messages per day.
The U.S Safe Web Act - ANS-After the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 prohibited false and deceptive
e-mails originating in the United States, spamming from servers located in other nations
increased. These cross-border spammers generally were able to escape detection and legal
sanctions because the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lacked the authority to investigate
foreign spamming.
Congress sought to rectify the situation by enacting the U.S. Safe Web Act (also known as the
Undertaking Spam, Spyware, and Fraud Enforcement with Enforcers Beyond Borders Act). The
act allows the FTC to cooperate and share information with foreign agencies in investigating
and prosecuting those involved in spamming, spyware, and various Internet frauds and
deceptions.
, The Safe Web Act also provides a "safe harbor" for Internet service providers (ISPs)—that is,
organizations that provide access to the Internet. The safe harbor gives ISPs immunity from
liability for supplying information to the FTC concerning possible unfair or deceptive conduct in
foreign jurisdictions.
Domain Names - ANS-As e-commerce expanded worldwide, one issue that emerged involved
the rights of a trademark owner to use the mark as part of a domain name. A domain name is
part of an Internet address, such as "cengage.com."
Domain Names: Structure - ANS-Every domain name ends with a generic top-level domain
(TLD), which is the part of the name to the right of the period that often indicates the type of
entity that operates the site. For instance, com is an abbreviation for commercial, and edu is
short for education.
The second-level domain (SLD)—the part of the name to the left of the period—is chosen by the
business entity or individual registering the domain name. Competition for SLDs among firms
with similar names and products has led to numerous disputes. By using an identical or similar
domain name, parties have attempted to profit from a competitor's goodwill (the nontangible
value of a business). For instance, a party might use a similar domain name to sell pornography,
offer for sale another party's domain name, or otherwise infringe on others' trademarks.
Domain Names: Distribution System - ANS-The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit corporation, oversees the distribution of domain names and
operates an online arbitration system. Due to numerous complaints, ICANN completely
overhauled the domain name distribution system.
In 2012, ICANN started selling new generic toplevel domain names (gTLDs) for an initial price of
$185,000 plus an annual fee of $25,000. Whereas TLDs were limited to only a few terms (such
as "com," "net," and "org"), gTLDs can take any form. By 2013, many companies and
corporations had acquired gTLDs based on their brands, such as .aol, .bmw, .canon, .gap,
.target, .toyota, and .walmart. Some companies have numerous gTLDs. Google's gTLDs, for
instance, include .android, .chrome, .gmail, .goog, and .YouTube.
Cybersquatting - ANS-One of the goals of the new gTLD system is to alleviate the problem of
cybersquatting. Cybersquatting occurs when a person registers a domain name that is the same
as, or confusingly similar to, the trademark of another and then offers to sell the domain name
back to the trademark owner.
Cybersquatting: Anticybersquatting Legislation: - ANS-Because cyber-squatting has led to so
much litigation, Congress enacted the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA),
which amended the Lanham Act—the federal law protecting trademarks, discussed in Chapter
14. The ACPA makes cybersquatting illegal when both of the following are true:
--The name is identical or confusingly similar to the trademark of another.
