Techdirt: Bogus Diet Patch Company Gets Away By Blaming Affiliates

Despite the fact that the company was probably pushing others to do the spamming for it, if they didn’t do the actual spamming, should they be held liable for spamming? Of course, there’s also the followup. If they know it was the affiliates, then why not go after those affiliates as well? That should scare off some of these spammers from signing up for affiliate programs.

InternetNews: Diet Patch Spammers Settle With FTC

Ok let me see if I got this right. You can get away with spamming if you have affiliates for your product(s). Then if (when) the FTC comes crashing down your door - you just say: Hey! You can’t prove it was me - look at all the affiliates I have.

And there’s truth in that. How does the FTC know the company isn’t a victim of its affiliates? Or worse yet - its competitors?

Wouldn’t this online world be a better place if people STOPPED BUYING FROM SPAM! Take away the motivation for spam (sales $), and snap snap - spam problem solved. I say instead of fining spammers to deter spam (um it’s not working), people who BUY from spam should be fined. Snap snap again - problem solved.