Facebook Wins Case Against Spammer

• By Justin Lee, November 25, 2008

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November 25, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- A California court ruled in favor of online community Facebook (www.facebook.com) in a $873 million judgment against alleged Montreal spammer who inundated members' inboxes with sexually explicit messages, according to reports by The Associated Press.

The win for the privately held Facebook, which expects to earn a revenue between $250 million to $300 million this year, was solidified by a judge's order Friday.

The alleged spammer, Adam Geurbuez, has been difficult to track down since the online community first sued him four months ago, according to court records.

Facebook hopes that the magnitude of the ruling will prevent other spammers from targeting the online community's more than 120 million members.

Max Kelly, director of security for Facebook, wrote about the ruling in the company's blog on Monday: "Everyone who participates constructively in Facebook should feel confident that we are fighting hard to protect you against spam and other online nuisances."

Facebook said that Guerbuez and his business, Atlantis Blue Capital, duped its community members into supplying them with their usernames and passwords through various methods, including the use of fraudulent websites disguised as legitimate ones.

Once Guerbuez managed to access members' personal profiles, he used computer programs to issue more than 4 million messages soliciting different products, such as marijuana and penis enlargement products, during March and April of this year, Facebook said.

"Despite the resources dedicated to spam eradication, current available technology does not permit Facebook to completely prevent the transmission of spam on its site,"Facebook's lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

Spam continues to be a prevalent issue, particularly with the upcoming holidays. On Monday, the Retail Email Blog issued its latest Retail Email Index which reveals that email marketing activity among US retailers is back on the rise.

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