Spam@$200 a piece : Facebook

Friday, (21-11-08) federal Judge Jeremy Fogel awarded Facebook $873 million in damages against Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital. According to the social network, it is the largest award ever under the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM).

According to Max Kelly, Facebook’s director of security, the company doesn’t expect to ever collect the money but believes it will be a powerful deterent to anyone who messes with the company or its users.

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According to the complaint, Guerbuez sent more than 4 million spam messages to Facebook users between March and April. He allegedly did so by stealing Facebook users' logon details using phishing messages and through data obtained from third parties. He then allegedly bombarded Facebook users' message posting pages, or "walls," with messages from the hijacked accounts of spam recipients' Facebook friends.

The sleazy messages could be viewed by anyone viewing an affected Facebook profile, and appeared to be endorsed by the account owner and the friend who posted it.

"The spam promoted numerous products and Web sites that, on information and belief, are offensive and embarrassing," the complaint explains. "The products marketed by these spam messages included marijuana, male enhancement pills and sexually oriented material."

earthtimes.org