November 25th, 2008
$873m judgment against spammer in Facebook case
Facebook has won a $873 million judgment against a Canadian man who sent some four million sex spam messages to users of the social network, AP reports.
It will be a long, long time before alleged spammer Adam Guerbuez of Montreal is found, much less coughs up that much money, but Facebook hopes the size of the judgment will scare off other spammers.
“Everyone who participates constructively in Facebook should feel confident that we are fighting hard to protect you against spam and other online nuisances,” Max Kelly, Facebook’s director of security, wrote Monday on the company’s blog.
Guerbuez obtained many Facebook emails through phishing techniques, then spammed users with ads for penis enlargement products and similar offers.
“Despite the resources dedicated to spam eradication, current available technology does not permit Facebook to completely prevent the transmission of spam on its site,” the company’s lawyers wrote in the case against Guerbuez.
