[JURIST] The US Federal Trade Commission [official website] announced Wesdnesday that five companies will pay a total of $1.16 million in fines to settle civil charges that they violated FTC anti-spam rules [FTC press release and complaints]. The companies were targeted for sending unsolicited emails advertising pornography that didn't include the phrase "sexually explicit" in the subject line to facilitate users blocking them. The FTC adopted a final rule [PDF] requiring the labelling in April 2004 [press release], acting under the the federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The FTC has a dedicated website for consumers looking to block all unwanted emails, and has previously been successful in court against porn spammers [JURIST report]. Three other companies have similar FTC complaints pending against them. Reuters has more.