Email tops the 'Worst' top 10 list and Spitzer hits spam artists

The Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has given internet companies the dubious honor of being top of his top ten of consumer complaints.

In 2005, the Internet beat out perennial complaint magnets such as the automobile industry—which includes used car dealers, body shops, and mechanics—ID theft, home repair, and landlord/tenant cases.

And in what he called the largest breach of privacy in Internet history, Eliot Spitzer, has forced Datran Media, a New York City-based online marketing firm to pay $1.1 million in penalties, disgorgements, and costs.

The settlement follows a six-month investigation into whether the five-year-old company, which lists Cingular, America Online, British Airways, Overstock, Nielsen, Orbitz, and AARP among its clients, improperly obtained personal information on more than 6 million American consumers.