From: "Deranged Mutant" <WlkngOwl@unix.asb.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 22:22:01 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Would the FTC crack down on snake oil someday?
Message-ID: <199603180455.XAA12434@unix.asb.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Enclosed is an excerpt from Edupage. Snake-oil crypto popped into my 
mind.... I wonder if the FTC (Federal Trade Commission... agency 
*meant* to crack down on consumer fraud, for non-US readers here) 
would ever get into act here.

Does the FTC have a home page? (Guess I'll do a search...)


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------

*****************************************************************
Edupage, 17 March 1996.  Edupage, a summary of news items on information
technology, is provided three times each week as a service by Educom,
a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities
seeking to transform education through the use of information technology.
*****************************************************************

TOP STORIES
        FTC Targets Internet Fraud
[..]
FTC TARGETS INTERNET FRAUD
The Federal Trade Commission is conducting a "wholesale crackdown" on
perpetrators of allegedly deceptive marketing schemes that are advertised in
Internet news groups or on the World Wide Web.  Charges were filed against
nine individuals or companies accused of misleading the public, and agency
officials say this is only the beginning:  "The Internet opens a world of
opportunities for consumers.  Unfortunately, it also presents opportunities
for scam artists.  We intend to monitor the Internet rigorously and act
decisively when we see deceptive and misleading marketing," says the
director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.  (Investor's Business
Daily 15 Mar 96 A4)
[..]
Rob. 

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