MySpace Sues Spam King Scott Richter For Sending MySpam

MySpace has filed suit against notorious spammer and self-proclaimed “spam king” Scott Richter and alleged cohorts for sending what could become known as MySpam. Yesterday MySpace filed a complaint in a District Court in Central District of California, USA demanding a jury trial against Richter’s for sending spam messages disguised as communications from members to other MySpace members.

The lawsuit claims Richter-run operations - OptInRealBig.com, CPA Empire.com, and Media Breakaway arranged for millions of MySpace bulletins to be sent through its system between July and December of last year. MySpace bulletins are messages sent from one user to all users in her friends list.

MySpaceis hoping for a permanent injunction barring Richter and his affiliated firms from the site, in addition to unspecified monetary damages.

In addition to claiming breach of contract and unfair competition, MySpace specifically charges the defendants violated The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, The CAN-SPAM Act, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California’s Anti-Spam Statute.

The social networking site claims the phony messages were sent by the defendants, who gathered log-ins and passwords of MySpace users through phishing attempts or third-party lists, and employed scripts to log in to those accounts and send spam. The claim also charges the defendants with promotion of false and misleading information for commercial or unlawful purposes and attempting to impersonate members.

Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus, said the lawsuit will serve to set an example to other misbehavers.

The MySpace claim also alleges co-conspirators Marat Nigmatzyanov, Yevgeniy Leschinskiy and other unnamed collaborators participated in spam-related violations.

In 2004, Richter and his firm OptInRealBig.com reached a settlement with then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in relation to a spam-related suit. OptinRealBig.com filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005. via ClickZ

Despite the lawsuit I think social networking sites will continue to eroded by spam and marketing exploitation, making them a questionable investment along the lines of AOL.