For all you who think it's a cute idea to promote your cyberporn by way of cyberspam, think again - porn spam is closer to being a legal problem than you think, ZDNet.com reported April 7.
"Graphic images appearing unbidden on (personal computers) by way of e-mail inboxes could qualify as evidence of a 'hostile work environment,' something that's prohibited by federal employment law," ZDNet said. "As a result, porn spam could begin to crop up in sexual harassment complaints from employees offended by the material. Even if companies aren't the source of such messages, they could be liable for hefty civil fines if managers know that porn spam is a problem and don't move to address it."
No one's tested the legal argument in court just yet, ZDNet added, but the combination of big-bucks damages and the fattening porn spam volume will likely make the court actions "inevitable." Brightmail, an anti-spam software maker, said porn is the fastest growing spam category - doubling as a spam percentage in the past few years, in fact.
"You have to provide a workplace that's free of sexual harassment. That right is so clearly established that no employer could say, 'I didn't know I had to do that,' if they're on notice about sex spam," workplace harassment attorney Michael Modl told ZDNet. And Manhattan Institute legal scholar Walter Olson told ZDNet porn spam lawsuits could prove well enough to be only too tempting a growth industry for trial lawyers.
