MySpace files suit against "Spam King" Richter

MySpace.com, the world’s leading social networking site, announced Monday that it has filed a lawsuit against Scott Richter, a Colorado man once accused of being one of the world's top three spammers, for violations of state and federal laws including the CAN-SPAM Act and California's anti-spam statute.

MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., filed the suit in United States District Court in Los Angeles on Friday, accusing Richter and his various companies, including OptInRealBig.com and Mediabreakway.com, of breaching state and federal anti-spamming laws by using stolen passwords to gain access to MySpace users’ account and using the information without their knowledge to send spam bulletins.

Los Angeles based MySpace alleges in the suit that between July and December 2006, Richter and his associates sent millions of junk messages to members using technology that made the messages appear to come from individual members' accounts.

According to the lawsuit, Richter either phished MySpace accounts himself to steal usernames and passwords to deliver the messages, or purchased a list of phished accounts from a third party to launch spam campaigns.

In their suit, MySpace, the largest Internet social network with more than 150 million user profiles, seeks a permanent injunction barring Richter and his affiliated companies from the MySpace site. The company also asks for a repayment of all profits gained as a result of the activity, in addition to unspecified monetary damages.

"We're committed to protecting our community from phishing and spam," said Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer for MySpace. "If it takes filing a federal suit to stop someone who violates the law and damages our members’ experience, then that's what we'll do.”

This is not the first time Richter, the "Spam King", is in hot soup, instead, he has been previously sued by Microsoft and then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over his practices with his business Optinrealbig.com, now known as Media Breakaway-a direct marketing firm.

In August 2005, Richter settled the lawsuit with Microsoft, in which he agreed to pay US$7 million for infringing federal spam regulations, and to make “fundamental changes” in his email practices.

In July 2004, Richter’s Optinrealbig.com settled a lawsuit with New York State which accused the company of sending spam containing fallacious subjects and false originator addresses. The marketing firm then settled that suit for both monetary damages and specific changes in his e-mail campaigns.

The most widely-known lifestyle portal, which has become a common victim of spammers, is taking tougher measures to keep it from the people who launch spam attacks to retain its rapid growth.

The suit against Richter is MySpace’s latest in a series of severe steps it has taken over the past two years to keep it free from spam, phishing and other abusive misuse of the MySpace site.