Folks, Today the FDA kicked off a week of international action against illicit online pharmacies. As part of this specific Registrars and ISPs have been issued notices regarding the ongoing problem of illegal and illicit Internet pharmacies. See: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm191330.htm There is certainly a diversity of illicit products and services advertised in spam and at rogue websites, but far and away drugs represent the bulk of the problem. Not heroin, cocaine or marijuana but illicit pharmaceuticals. This should not come as a surprise to anyone as Viagra has become synonymous with spam and vice-versa. But it’s not just lifestyle drugs. Painkillers, psychotropics, anti-depressants, diabetics, and pretty much any drug that requires a prescription is being sold on domains sponsored by ICANN Accredited Registrars, and most are here in the U.S. The drugs are being sold without a prescription. And, no, the drugs do not come from Canada. Even though “Canada” is a favorite term for these websites the pills come from Turkey, Serbia, Moldova, and India. The medicine may be real or it may not be, but anyone consuming them is risking their health as well as giving money to organized crime. Rogue pharmacy is now at least at $100 Billion illicit industry and the Internet is driving its growth with absolute impunity. Criminals hire spammers to promote websites where drugs are sold illegally. Because spammed websites are quickly discovered and complained about they are often taken down soon after a spam campaign. To deal with this problem drug traffickers use multiple layers of linked and redirected domains that are not spammed, stay intact and endure. Spammers may in fact be the Registrars best customers. Whereas the ordinary business may buy one or two domain names, spammers buy thousands and then dump them. The Registrar can then resell the defunct domain names, so they get paid twice for the same item. Some reading this may think that Registrars are the fall guy here as it is impossible to track the activity of the thousands of domain names they sponsor. Problem is, they have been specifically informed of which domains are conducting illegal activities multiple times. Some might wonder then who is KnujOn to tell a Registrar about fake pharmacy domains? Actually, our reports have been endorsed by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy(NABP), The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), The American Pharmacists Association (APhA), and the Partnership for Safe Medicines. Regardless of our endorsements, if a Registrar receives information of an illicit pharmacy site sponsored by them from any consumer and does not investigate and terminate, that Registrar is now aiding criminals. If a Registrar continues to accept payment from the domain owner after being notified, they are then receiving money from organized crime. Bottom line is that the Registrars have the authority and technical ability to terminate a domain, even though many claim they do not. Registrars have the power to stop rogue pharmacy domains. The illicit networks rely on stable domains just like any other business. However, until the Registrars are told to stop sponsoring illicit drug traffic they will continue to do so. It is a ridiculous dance that cannot go on much longer. This farce is going to come to an end. -Garth More information: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fda-issues-22-warning-letters-to-web... http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/11/19/FDA-issues-22-Internet-warning-le... http://www.safemedicines.org/2009/11/spotlight-on-knujon-combating-counterfe... http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com.au/articles/37005-Spam-won-t-die-so-ema... ------------------------------------- Collect, analyze, enforce, repeat... Garth Bruen gbruen@knujon.com http://www.knujon.com http://www.linkedin.com/pub/4/149/724 Twitter: @Knujon Linkedin Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1870205