New Bill Would Expose Spammers To Racketeering Charges
from the more-spam-legislation dept
Because there aren’t already enough spam bills being discussed in Congress here is yet another one. This one is a bit more targeted, and is focused just on spam “scams” that try to get money out of people illegally. The bill would make anyone involved in those scams open to being charged for racketeering under the RICO Act. This makes sense, though, I wonder why it wasn’t already true. If they are involved in racketeering over email, aren’t they already liable under that law?
Comments on “New Bill Would Expose Spammers To Racketeering Charges”
RICO
Not in and of itself. IANAL, but in broad terms RICO prohibits money obtained from racketeering from being used to support a legitimate business or to obtain control of a legitimate business. It covers both the funnelling of money from independent racketeering operations, and the direct use of racketeering by an otherwise legitimate business.
In order for RICO to be applicable, there must be a “pattern of racketeering activity”, not just an isolated incident. Also, because it’s a Federal law, RICO only applies when the legitimate business is engaged in interstate or international commerce.