MySpace Sues Spam King

Harry Maugans writes to mention a lawsuit filed by MySpace against Scott Richter, the 'Spam King'. Filed under California's harsh anti-spam laws, the suit alleges that Richter sent millions of unsolicited 'bulletins' to MySpace users over the past few years. From the article: "The suit is aiming for monetary damages and an injunction that would permanently ban Richter and his affiliates from MySpace. The amount of money sought by MySpace has not been disclosed. Richter was already ordered to pay $7 million in a 2003 lawsuit filed by Microsoft after initially refusing to settle the dispute for $100,000. Microsoft announced in 2005 that it would be using the money from the settlement to fuel further antispam operations."

In related news...

[EveryNickIsTaken]

Tom has had a class action suit leveled against him for sending out millions of unsolicited "friend" requests.

mmmm, spam

[bsundhei]

So is 'Spam King' the even cheaper version of Burger King?

Re:Unfortunatly it is the only way to go.

[Anonymous Coward]

There is another way: it's hard to make a profit if you're dead.

He was on the Daily Show

[Lazerf4rt]

They interviewed this guy on the Daily Show [google.com] last year. Fun watch. He insisted he was not a "spammer" but rather a "high volume e-mail deployer". He also argued that people "want" to get the e-mails he deploys.

I wonder how he will spin unsolicited bulletins sent from stolen MySpace accounts? "People enjoy receiving bulletins from their friends about valuable products and services. We just help them do that."

Re:Unfortunatly it is the only way to go.

[C_L_Lk]

Certainly, at least in the US, some spammers could be considered enemies of the state and enemy combatants, if they are spamming government email addresses and cause congestion or other undue strain on the mailboxes of government employees and staff members. So, just declare them an enemy combatant, they lose their rights as a citizen, they get moved to Guantanamo, the suspected terrorists they share quarters with find out they are spammers, and they swiftly end their lives without prejudice. Why? Because their last terrorist bombing was thwarted because their cell of operatives couldn't get their proper instructions by email, because they were too busy trying to filter out the stock pump-n-dump emails for PHYK.PK and the ones from the Cialis pushers. Problem solved.

Simple solution

[VEGETA_GT]

All the cash being spent on lawsuits should be spent to buy Sealand and donate it to spammer's with one simple Rule, you all live there. I am sure they would jump at the chance. Then you tell the US that we have a nice target here to test your new rail gun on. See it works out great, the US is happy it got to fire off its big new guns, and we Kill off spam as who would start spamming if they realize we killed the last major spammers in a fun way. Win Win Baby.

Re:Unfortunatly it is the only way to go.

[Anonymous Coward]

Although victims of spammers are often the most stupid of stupid people, it might be the case that a concerted education attempt will affect some people, if only in the field of basic literacy. Perhaps a realistic target might be one mistake every 6 words, on average?

Whether "high legalsuits" will help or "crap over spam will still be sent" is anyone's guess, once they've taken a guess at what that means...

Re:Unfortunatly it is the only way to go.

[morgan_greywolf]

Give the poor guy a break. He is, after all, a former BBS SysOp. Most SysOps are horrible at spelling and grammar...that's why they became SysOps. ;)

(I'm a former BBS SysOp as well, so I'm making fun of myself as well. :D)

Re:Unfortunatly it is the only way to go.

[Lord Apathy]

Or we could take a few of the big ones out and stake them out in the desert like one of those old western movies. Then we could strip them naked, poor honey all over them and sit back and wait for the ants. We could even pass the day by placing side bets on what would get them first, the sun or the ants.

Then we take the video an post it to youtube.

It's just a thought....