Spam-A-Lot-Less: Pricewert Shutdown Reduces Junk Mail

Noticed less spam hitting your e-mail account this past week? You wouldn’t be dreaming if you have: Spamming is down 15 percent thanks to the Federal Trade Commission’s shutdown last Thursday of notorious ISP Pricewert.

Pricewert, said the FTC in a prepared statement, is “a shell-company, ostensibly based in the state of Oregon and run by Eastern European criminals operating out of the South American state of Belize and running its illegal operations from servers in Silicon Valley.”

The FTC says Pricewert hosted illegal activity by distributing botnets, viruses, spyware, child porn and more, but Pricewert says if any such activity did take place, it was on the part of its customers.

According to media reports, the FTC has tried before to shut down Pricewert. But because the ISP served as a front for company names including 3FN, Triple Fiber Networks, APX Telecom, APS Telecom and APS Communication, it was able to shift its content and accesses to different IP addresses, thereby avoiding the government.

Pricewert is vowing to fight the shutdown in court. Meanwhile, enjoy that slight drop in spam. It probably won’t last long.