Pc Magazine[/url]":33cb6oud]A Canadian citizen was slapped with an $873 million fine Friday for sending approximately 4 million spam e-mail messages to Facebook users the largest judgment ever handed down for a violation of the federal CAN-SPAM Act.

 

 

 

In March and April 2008, Adam Guerbuez and his company, Atlantic Blue Capital, used Facebook login information obtained through phishing schemes and third parties to send spam advertisements for marijuana, male enhancement drugs, and sexually oriented material to users' Facebook "Walls" and e-mail inboxes.

 

 

 

The messages would appear to be from a user's friend, but were actually placed there by autobots controlled by Guerbuez.

 

 

 

Facebook sued Guerbuez in U.S. District Court for Northern California in August. "The voluminous and illicit nature of defendants' advertisements has tainted the Facebook experience for affected Facebook users," Facebook wrote in its initial complaint.

 

 

 

Facebook also said it lost money monitoring, reviewing and attempting to prevent similar spam e-mail and wall posts about $5,000 in a year.

 

 

 

Judge Jeremy Fogel did not elaborate on how he reached the $873 million total, which includes about $437 million for statutory damages and $437 million for aggravated statutory damages, but the CAN-SPAM Act allows for damages of up to $11,000 per violation. The fines were was doubled because of aggravated circumstances, a Facebook spokesman said.

 

 

 

Guerbuez will also be responsible for attorneys' fees and costs, a number to be determined no later than December 12, according to the decision.

 

 

 

"Does Facebook expect to quickly collect $873 million and share the proceeds in some way with our users? Alas, no. It's unlikely that Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital could ever honor the judgment rendered against them - though we will certainly collect everything we can," Max Kelly, Facebook's director of security, wrote in a Monday blog post. "But we are confident that this award represents a powerful deterrent to anyone and everyone who would seek to abuse Facebook and its users."

 

 

 

Guerbuez was also banned from accessing Facebook or from asking others to access Facebook on his behalf.

 

 

 

The CAN-SPAM Act, which went into effect in 2004, requires businesses to identify unsolicited e-mail as an advertisement and include contact information in the body of the e-mail so that consumers can opt-out of receiving future messages.

 

 

 

Guerbuez's actions were a blatant violation of these provisions, according to Facebook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All I can say is wow.

Good, that'll teach spammers. Too bad they can't actually collect anywhere near that much.

I bet he needed to buy a new pair of shorts after he saw all the digits in that fine. Tough break for him, I bet his great-great-great-great-grandchildren laugh at this when they get old.

Lmao! Justice is serveddddd!

Like said above, it's almost worse than a prison term; Just about everything you have earned & will earn in the future, everything not necessary to stay alive, will go to Facebook's corporate bank accounts. Practically this guy destroyed his life, unless he has a good plan to make over $800m from scratch with no startup funds available.

 

 

 

Personally, I don't have sympathy for him. I can even understand some robbers being absolutely forced into doing what they do if their family members can't pay off hospital bills & are dying... Nobody is forced to send millions of spam emails and create headache for massive amounts of people. He is clearly only motivated by making as much money as possible without caring how many people suffer in the process.

 

 

 

Spam doesn't physically "hurt" anyone.. But it's a major nuisance and even a threat, a parent definitely doesn't want his kid's FB/Myspace spammed with marijuana, viagra and other ads.

Like said above, it's almost worse than a prison term; Just about everything you have earned & will earn in the future, everything not necessary to stay alive, will go to Facebook's corporate bank accounts. Practically this guy destroyed his life, unless he has a good plan to make over $800m from scratch with no startup funds available.

 

 

 

Personally, I don't have sympathy for him. I can even understand some robbers being absolutely forced into doing what they do if their family members can't pay off hospital bills & are dying... Nobody is forced to send millions of spam emails and create headache for massive amounts of people. He is clearly only motivated by making as much money as possible without caring how many people suffer in the process.

 

 

 

Spam doesn't physically "hurt" anyone.. But it's a major nuisance and even a threat, a parent definitely doesn't want his kid's FB/Myspace spammed with marijuana, viagra and other ads.

 

yeah, we get it enough on tv anyway

All I can say is, good ridance.

My grandmother was talking about this earlier. But $873 million? Holy crap! Good luck collecting.

 

 

 

Wasn't he porn spamming?

Only a matter of days before I'm getting 'spammed' with invites to Facebook groups protesting against this decision. :lol:

 

 

 

He is clearly only motivated by making as much money as possible without caring how many people suffer in the process.

 

So much for free speech... Spam might be a nuisance, but we aren't about to lock up the guy on the corner for "spamming" the public with messages of Christ.

 

 

 

a parent definitely doesn't want his kid's FB/Myspace spammed with marijuana, viagra and other ads.

 

Drug/alcohol and sex references are prevalent throughout Facebook. Removing the spambots won't change that. :lol:

How will they enforce this if he's in Canada?

How will they enforce this if he's in Canada?

 

 

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

 

He is clearly only motivated by making as much money as possible without caring how many people suffer in the process.

 

So much for free speech... Spam might be a nuisance, but we aren't about to lock up the guy on the corner for "spamming" the public with messages of Christ.

 

 

 

 

Had he only used his own account to spam people I wouldn't have much of a problem with it. But he was using other peoples' account and baiting others in as well. He crossed the line, he deserves to be punished.

$22,000 for hacking 1 facebook?

 

 

 

That's insane. Sorry, this guy deserved a fine but now his life is pretty much ruined, unless he can get $870,000,000 pretty soon.

this is absurd... take away his PC don't take away his life.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope to god the debt isn't handed down when he dies.

Unless this guy is somehow related to John Rockefeller (the oil guy, not the senator), his and the next few generations of his family are destroyed. Way to represent, man.

Dang, what an Overkill

I'm no legal expert, do fines get passed down to family if he can't pay?

What a stupid punishment. Poor fella.

What a stupid punishment. Poor fella.

 

I wonder, what would facebook do with the money......

 

He is clearly only motivated by making as much money as possible without caring how many people suffer in the process.

 

So much for free speech... Spam might be a nuisance, but we aren't about to lock up the guy on the corner for "spamming" the public with messages of Christ.

 

 

 

 

Had he only used his own account to spam people I wouldn't have much of a problem with it. But he was using other peoples' account and baiting others in as well. He crossed the line, he deserves to be punished.

 

Perhaps a punishment is in order for phishing, but certainly not for spamming.

 

 

 

With such a severely crippling and life-long sentence, we liken his crimes to murder and theft. The punishment doesn't fit the crime.

Wow, what a pain. Good on Facebook for doing that, I'm glad that they didn't let him off lightly. Hopefully other spammers will think twice.

Wow....just wow. I know that if the fine was like 50 grand I wouldn't feel any sympathy for the guy, but to slap an 873 million dollar tab on the poor bastard is a little absurd :shock: There are far FAR worse crimes that deserve this kind of punishment, but wow i honestly feel bad for this guy :? Clearly, Facebook is just flexing it's corporate muscles here

I agree. This is a rather radical judgement on the man. If it was a smaller fine under a half million dollars, it would be possible for him to pay it off and not ruin his life. There are worse things on Facebook than a spam message advertising Enzyte or Viagra. The only seriously bad thing that he did was the phishing part.

This isn't the first time a company or person has gotten their arse handed to them because of spam. This is jut the largest fine, then again it also is the largest amount hit so far. No sympathy for him. He took the risk and lost.

Holy [cabbage]. His children/grandchildren and their children will be in debt before they're born.