The recent settlement of a CAN-SPAM complaint implies liability by companies for the actions of their affiliates, writes ClickZ, pointing to a requirement by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), backed by a U.S. District Court in Nevada, that several porn sites keep detailed records on affiliate marketers, obtaining a name, address and working phone number for each affiliate and sub-affiliate.

Also, seven days before a campaign launches, the affiliates must certify to the defendants how they obtained each email address on their lists, together with details of the message content.

"The settlement will bar future violations and will require the marketers to monitor their affiliates to assure they are complying with federal laws, as well," the FTC noted in a statement.

"While the affiliate sent many of the emails that allegedly violated federal law, under the CAN-SPAM Act all of the defendants are responsible for the emails, including the defendants who paid others to send the emails on their behalf."

The three defendants also paid $621,000 in fines as part of the settlement.