Datran Media Must Pay $1.1M for Sending Unsolicited Spam E-Mails

According to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office, Datran Media Corp., a leading e-mail marketer based in New York City, is guilty of sending out over 6 million unsolicited spam e-mails to consumers whose privacy was breached. The company used e-mail addresses and other personal information that it obtained from several other companies fraudulently.

The "customer acquisition" companies who had personal data "mined" by Datran proclaimed adamantly on their websites that the information provided to them by consumers would not be sold or distributed to anyone else. Consumers were often lured into providing the sites with their names, addresses, telephone numbers, and even financial data in exchange for free items such as DVD movies and iPods. Many such sites request personal data to use it for marketing and so that companies can better tailor their products to customers’ needs and wants. Usually the site operators pledge not to sell the names or e-mail addresses that accompany that data.

Spitzer accused Datran of knowing that those companies had pledged to keep customer information private, but they spammed those unsuspecting customers anyway, flooding their In boxes with ads for diet pills, discount drugs, sexual enhancement products, and other items. The Attorney General’s staff said that they believe Datran’s offenses to be the largest deliberate breach of Internet privacy unearthed by U.S. authorities to date.

Spitzer’s office began to look into Datran’s practices after an Internet security assurance company came to them with suspicions of improper activities. "Personal information equals marketing dollars," Spitzer said. "You learn more about consumers who you want to target in a hundred different ways and there’s nothing wrong with that if you get the information properly."

Datran agreed to reform its practices under the $1.1 million settlement, but company spokesman Mark Naples said that Datran never received any financial data and never sent e-mails regarding discount price pharmaceuticals. He said that although 6 million e-mails were involved in the accusations, that number doesn’t represent 6 million people. "We have always been and remain committed to industry best practices," Naples said. "Therefore, we are pleased to resolve this matter with the attorney general and are gratified that his office worked collegially with us."