MySpace wins $234 million antispam judgment

Social-networking site MySpace.com has won a $234 million antispam judgment, according to the Associated Press.

On the losing side of the award--believed to be the largest ever under the 2003 Can-Spam Act--were defendants Walter Rines and Sanford Wallace, the so-called spam king. MySpace won the case against Wallace after he failed numerous times to turn over documents or show up for court.

"MySpace has zero tolerance for those who attempt to act illegally on our site," MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam told the AP. "We remain committed to punishing those who violate the law and try to harm our members."

In March of last year, MySpace filed suit against Wallace, alleging he launched a phishing scam to fraudulently access MySpace profiles. Wallace was also accused of spamming thousands of MySpace users with unwanted advertisements and luring them to his Web sites.

MySpace said Wallace and Rines sent 735,925 messages to MySpace members. Under the Can-Spam Act, each violation entitles MySpace to $100 in damages, tripled when conducted "willfully and knowingly," according to the report.

Wallace has previously been sued by the Federal Trade Commission and companies such as AOL and Concentric Network. In May 2006, Wallace and his company Smartbot.net were ordered by a federal court to turn over $4.1 million.

Wallace earned the nicknames "Spamford" and "spam king" for his past role as head of CyberPromotions, a company responsible for sending as many as 30 million junk e-mails a day in the 1990s.

[djmasterweb]

It would have been nice if I was served first. See www.SanfordWallace.com

[Mercury23]

You're lucky that it's just money... if it were up to me, I would send a hit squad out after you. Frankly I do not believe you deserve to live in civilized society. You are the worst kind of human being.

[humanssssss]

I don't have any problem people sending me email. I don't consider that in any way illegal even if they send me 15 million emails. What I have a problem with is compromising other people's computer to send email (spam). Spamming is should be legal. Breaking into people's computer should be illegal. There's a big difference and people should learn it because there are so many people who when they can't handle things on their own they turn to the government and when the government steps in, the Internet for free speech takes a hit.

People knowingly allow other people to send them email. If they don't want email, they wouldn't have an email address in the first place. Don't blame others for sending you email. You have yourself to blame when you want to receive email. You have the right to delete and block any email you don't like. No one is forcing you to read email you don't like. Why ban spam? Spams are email you don't like. If you spend hours deleting spams, you are the dumb people. I have no spams because every email I receive goes into my spam box unless it's on my permitted list. If you do that, you wouldn't get any spam. The fact that you allow every email to get into your inbox, you are opening yourself to everyone on the Internet to email you. I don't, i only allow people I know in my inbox, all others, spam box because I don't give a damn to anyone else except for the people I permit in my inbox.

Please people, be smart. You need to understand what free speech is.

Thank you.

[Magallanes]

is it a sarcasm or directly a BS?

Spam is garbage, a stupid idea is to toss this unsolicited garbage every day, a smart idea is to stop the source of this garbage.

[humanssssss]

I don't have any problem people sending me email. I don't consider that in any way illegal even if they send me 15 million emails. What I have a problem with is compromising other people's computer to send email (spam). Spamming is should be legal. Breaking into people's computer should be illegal. There's a big difference and people should learn it because there are so many people who when they can't handle things on their own they turn to the government and when the government steps in, the Internet for free speech takes a hit.

People knowingly allow other people to send them email. If they don't want email, they wouldn't have an email address in the first place. Don't blame others for sending you email. You have yourself to blame when you want to receive email. You have the right to delete and block any email you don't like. No one is forcing you to read email you don't like. Why ban spam? Spams are email you don't like. If you spend hours deleting spams, you are the dumb people. I have no spams because every email I receive goes into my spam box unless it's on my permitted list. If you do that, you wouldn't get any spam. The fact that you allow every email to get into your inbox, you are opening yourself to everyone on the Internet to email you. I don't, i only allow people I know in my inbox, all others, spam box because I don't give a damn to anyone else except for the people I permit in my inbox.

Please people, be smart. You need to understand what free speech is.

Thank you.

[4wight]

So you only read email from people you know? What a closed mind you must have and a closed world you must live in. There is a big difference between an individual sending another individual an email, of whatever kind, and a spammer who may send hundreds of millions of emails a day in order to try and make money. If you can't see that you must be a bit dim.

[ted_brah1]

Awww man! Doe's this mean I won't be recieving email's from those hot babes that want me to go see them on their webcams? I know they're being sincere!

[dbarjim]

I have a problem with all this SPAM and get rich lottery emails filling up my mailbox, there is no 1st amendment right that gives someone the right to steal from you. If you like this SPAM you go for it, for me I do not like spending most of my time reading or looking at SPAM emails.

[Johnet123]

Although I agree that one is not forced to read one?s spam, your simpleminded assessment of the spam problem is wrong. Given your mentality with regards to free speech, it would be okay for me to use a bullhorn at 3 in the morning, to loudly announce a service or product, which I am selling, outside of your bedroom window.

Furthermore, you fail to realize that most spam is little more that a scam and, most importantly, utilizes bandwidth at the expense of others.

Lastly, years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that free speech is not an absolute right, which can be used irresponsibly at the expense of others. Consider that you cannot shout that there is a fire in a building when the fire is nonexistent.

[holzfaller]

Yes! Put this leech out of business!

[magnoliablosssom]

My problem is that no matter what I do some of these e-mails end up in my in box. You are only allowed to block so many addresses, so I cannot block them all. Since several people send out the same e-mail this makes it even more difficult. The ones that get to me are the ones that get in even though they are not addressed directly to me. Also they are meant for a male and I am female. If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to hear them.

[jsargent]

Use a white list for your filter. A white list is a list of addresses or domains that you want to receive email from.

[bernie.mcginn]

good post!