The US Federal Trade Commission has severed the Internet connection of a company accused of helping criminals serve up a "witches' brew" of nasty content online, from computer viruses to kiddie porn.

Pricewert is described in a complaint filed in San Jose, California, federal court as an Oregon-based shell company run by "overseas criminals", operating out of Belize and running many illegal operations out of servers in Silicon Valley.

The service was apparently advertised "in the darkest corners of the Internet" and was targeted at criminals who want to put malicious Web sites online. Its technicians were alleged to help crims run botnets.

The FTC said it is the first time that it has ordered the shuttering of an ISP. 3FN has not commented on the allegations.