---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Charles Amega-Selorm <cas@internetresearch.com.gh>
Date: Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 8:42 PM
Subject: [AfrISPA.Discuss] US cuts off 'criminal' ISP
To:
members@gispa.org.gh,
discuss@afrispa.org
US cuts off 'criminal' net firm
An American ISP allegedly involved in distributing spam and images of
child abuse has been thrown off the net.
The US Federal Trade Commission asked for Pricewert LLC's net links to
be severed after it had gathered evidence of the firm's 'criminal'
connections.
The FTC alleges that Pricewert had created one of the "leading US-based
havens for illegal, malicious, and harmful content".
Pricewert denied the allegations and said it would fight them in court.
Legal fight
In an official complaint filed in a San Jose Federal court, the FTC
described Pricewert as a "rogue" or "black hat" ISP that acted as a
hosting centre for many hi-tech criminals.
The FTC alleges that Pricewert was paid to host "child pornography,
botnet command and control servers, spyware, viruses, trojans,
phishing-related sites, illegal online pharmacies, investment and other
web-based scams".
The evidence against Pricewert was gathered with the help of Nasa's
computer crime division, Symantec, the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children, as well as groups such as Spamhaus and the
Shadowserver Foundation.
In its statement accompanying its filing, the FTC said its complaint was
"not a finding or ruling that the defendant has actually violated the
law". That, it said, would be decided by a court. A preliminary hearing
will be heard on 15 June.
So far, the FTC has not been able to identify who was behind Pricewert.
Although its servers are based in the US, it is registered as a business
in Belize and many of its employees are thought to be located in Eastern
Europe.
Talking to technology news site Network World, a spokesman for Pricewert
said the action was "unfair" and it would take legal action to defend
itself.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8084726.stm
--
Charles Amega-Selorm
Research Associate
Internet Research
Tel: +233-28-7297327
Fax: +233-21-258811
PMB 208, Accra-North
http://www.internetresearch.com.gh
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