I’m a big fan of ValueClick and have been using them for years on several of my websites. It’s shocking of course to hear the news today that they are being investigated by the FTC for violating the “Can Spam Act” with several of their campaigns. I don’t personally remember getting many emails from them that I would consider spam but then again I’m a subscriber so it doesn’t count as spam in the first place.

Basically, ValueClick is going to have a rough road ahead if the allegations ring true. Spamming is not something to be taken lightly and it’s certainly not anything I want to get involved with. Black hat is never smart but spamming is one of the most obvious “Black hat” methods that companies can use to get extra traffic. After all, the traffic is free, at least until you get caught. Then suddenly all the years of benefiting from spamming are not worth it when compared to the fines and other legal actions that can be taken against you. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out.

ValueClick is obviously quite popular so I’m sure they have enough money to stay above water even after fines and legal fees but this could hurt their name significantly. We will see in time. In the meantime I will continue using them. Nothing has been made official yet so this could all very well turn out to be a misunderstanding. That’s probably a bit unlikely though, considering the fact that the FTC doesn’t just bust people for the fun of it on a whim.

Source: Reuters