FTC Sues, Shuts Down N. Calif. Web Hosting Firm
In an unprecedented move, the Federal Trade Commission has taken legal steps to shut down a Web hosting provider in Northern California that the agency says was directly involved in managing massive global spam operations.
Sometime on Tuesday, more than 15,000 Web sites connected to San Jose, Calif., based Triple Fiber Network (3FN.net) went dark. 3FN's sites were disconnected after a Northern California district court judge approved an FTC request to have the company's upstream Internet providers stop routing traffic for the provider.
In its civil complaint, the FTC names 3FN and its various monikers, including Pricewert LLC -- the business entity named on the 3fn.net Web site registration records. The FTC alleges that Pricewert/3FN operates as a "'rogue' or 'black hat' Internet service provider that recruits, knowingly hosts, and actively participates in the distribution of illegal, malicious, and harmful content," including botnet control servers, child pornography and rogue antivirus products. 3FN also operates by the names APS Telecom and APX Telecom.