The Federal Trade Commission recently took aim at alleged spamming companies Cleverlink Trading Limited and Real World Media, accusing them of violating "almost every provision of the Can-Spam Act" in
a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Illinois. In the lawsuit, the FTC accused the California-based Cleverlink, Real World, and their officers of sending "millions" of e-mails asking
recipients to pay for memberships to dating sites. Some of the e-mails contained sexually explicit material, according to the FTC's court papers. The defendants apparently had no relationship with the
dating sites they were allegedly charging for; in fact, the sites could apparently be accessed by the general public for free, said FTC lawyer Steven M. Wernikoff. The FTC received more than 550,00
complaints regarding Cleverlink and Real World Media's operation, which allegedly took in an estimated $700,000. The next court date will be June 6. --Wendy Davis
