Hotmail
MySpace can collect $6 million from spammer
Social network site 'has essentially declared a war on spam and phishing'
Tech Holiday Gift Guide |
 Give the gift of gaming accessories These gadgets help gamers play longer, better, more efficiently and more comfortably. Here are a few game-enhancing peripherals that the gamer on your list is sure to enjoy. |
 | Tech and gadgets videos |
 Police patrolling Facebook Nov. 13: The Medina, Ohio, police department is posting pictures of wanted criminals on Facebook in an effort to get the public's help in tracking them down. WKYC's Mike O'Mara reports. |
 | Video |
 |
Auto Tech |
A better economy may lure buyers, but these trends could seal the deal. |
BOSTON - MySpace can collect $6 million from a notorious Internet marketer accused by the popular online hangout of spamming its users.
An arbitrator has ruled that Scott Richter and his Web marketing company, Media Breakaway LLC of Westminster, Colorado, must pay MySpace $4.8 million in damages and $1.2 million in attorney's fees for barraging MySpace members with unsolicited advertisements. Media Breakaway and its employees were also banned from the site.
MySpace, a unit of News Corp., had alleged that some of the messages were sent from accounts whose sign-on information had been hijacked by "phishing." Media Breakaway countered that rogue business affiliates — independent contractors who sent messages for Media Breakaway — were to blame for phishing and other improper behavior.
In a statement, Media Breakaway celebrated the fact that the arbitrator had awarded MySpace "95 percent less than the amount demanded" by the company.
Indeed, Thursday's arbitration ruling pales next to a $230 million verdict MySpace won in U.S. District Court last month against two Internet marketers, Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines. Nonetheless, MySpace hopes the Richter case will increase the pressure it has been trying to place on spammers.
"MySpace has essentially declared a war on spam and phishing on our site," Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer, said in an interview.
Richter is a familiar figure in such matters. Microsoft Corp. won a $7 million settlement against him in a spam lawsuit in 2005, and the state of New York got $50,000 from Richter the year before.
However, Richter's father, Steven Richter, who serves as Media Breakaway's president and general counsel, said Monday that the company has worked harder in recent years to stay clean. He said Media Breakaway now has five employees tracking its legal compliance, up from one in 2006.
In this case, he said, Media Breakaway had misunderstood MySpace's rules prohibiting commercial messages. "Once they told us it was wrong we threw the iron curtain down on it," Richter said in an interview.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM INTERNET |
 Internet Section Front |
| Add Internet headlines to your news reader: |
Resource guide