Scott Richter has been accused of being one of the world’s top three spammers and holds the auspicious moniker of the “Spam King.” He is also being used by the king of the social networking world, News Corp.’s MySpace.
MySpace is accusing Richter and his handful of companies, including OptInRealBig.com and Mediabreakway.com, of wrongfully obtaining user account information and sending bulletin messages promoting certain products.
The lawsuit was filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, and cites violations of multiple state and U.S. antispam laws, including California edicts and the federal Can-Spam Act. MySpace is accusing Richter of using a phishing scheme to create fake login pages requesting that the user re-enter his/her username and password. A program then logged into these accounts and sent advertising messages to all of the user’s friends.
Ringtones and polo shirts were among the products promoted in these unsolicited messages.
MySpace is seeking monetary damages, a ban that would prevent Richter and his affiliates from visiting MySpace, and repayment of all profits earned from this phishing activity.
Richter is not unfamiliar with lawsuits. In 2003, Richter was forced to cough up $7 million to Microsoft. This was after he rejected a settlement that would have been for $100,000. Richter also settled a lawsuit with former New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer regarding his e-mail activities.
MySpace has seen its share of security concerns. In December, the social networking giant faced a QuickTime worm that posted links to misleading sites. This is on top of the rising concerns about the safety and privacy of its users, particularly younger girls.
Sources:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/ap_on_hi_te/myspace_spam
http://news.com.com/2100-7348_3-6152230.html?part=rss&tag=
2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
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