FTC Shutdown of Pricewert Results In Significant Drop Of Spam

Pricewert was known as a safe haven for spammers and was recently shut down by the Federal Trade Commission resulting in a 15% drop in Spam messages.

Total spam volume dropped by 15% percent just last week, according to the email security vendor Marshal8e6. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received a court order to takedown the Pricewert ISP. Since the takedown, spam rates have declined, which is a clear indication that they were the culprit of a vast amount of spam.

Pricewert was home to a good amount of illegal activity which includes the distribution of spyware, phishing, child pornography and viruses. The FTC confirmed this recently and issued a statement that said Pricewert shielded the criminals by either ignoring requests to take-down certain sites or transfer the criminal fundamentals to other internet protocol addresses.

Should Pricewert be liable for harboring spammers?

Since the shutdown, Pricewert has said it was not their fault but the result from bad customers. Pricewert headquarters is located in Belize City, Belize but noted by the FTC as being operated out of a DataPipe data center in San Jose, CA.

Everything about Pricewert does not add-up and it was time that some action be taken to stop the malicious activities of those who utilize Pricewert as a host. It is apparent that the shut-down of Pricewert reveals it being a major contributor to spam messages around the world. The drop in spam reported by security vendors is somewhat astonishing.

Do you foresee other ISP's or internet hosting companies being shut-down because they harbor cyber criminals or host several malicious sites? Will the FTC crack down on these companies and hold them liable?