News
Accused Facebook Spammer Could Face Jail Time
Alleged spammer could face jail time in connection with a Facebook lawsuit
By Agam Shah, IDG News Service
June 15, 2009 — IDG News Service —
An alleged spammer could face jail time in connection with a Facebook lawsuit after a judge referred him to the U.S. Attorney General's Office for criminal proceedings.
Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California referred Sanford Wallace to the U.S. Attorney General's Office for criminal proceedings for allegedly violating an injunction that prohibited him from accessing Facebook.
Facebook filed a lawsuit against Wallace and two other men in February for spamming and phishing schemes through the social-networking site. The following week, Judge Fogel issued a temporary restraining order barring Wallace and two other alleged spammers, Adam Arzoomanian and Scott Shaw, from accessing Facebook's network.
"We see Fogel's ruling as a strong deterrent against spammers. Spammers feel that they are immune from criminal prosecution. Fogel's ruling demonstrates that judges will enforce restraining orders and spammers who violate them will face criminal prosecution," said Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman.
However, judgment for Facebook's ongoing civil lawsuit against Wallace has been stayed as the defendant has filed for bankruptcy. Court judgments involving money are usually stalled when a defendant files for bankruptcy, Schnitt said.
Wallace's days as a spammer date back to the 1990s. Last May a federal judge found him and a partner guilty under the CAN-SPAM act. He was ordered to pay $230 million for phishing and spamming MySpace users with links to gambling and pornography Web sites.
Copyright 2009 IDG News Service, International Data Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Security Directions: A Virtual Conference
Available On Demand Sept. 30 - Dec. 30
Join us for a virtual event with candid, expert information on top security challenges and issues - all from the comfort of your desktop.
Protecting PII: How to Work with IT to Manage Risk
Understand the critical nature of the test data privacy problem and get tips on how to work with IT to implement a test data privacy program.
- Upgrading to VMware vSphere with vWire
- Removing Barriers To Better Server Virtualization Efficiency
- Practical Approaches for Securing Web Applications across the Software Delivery Lifecycle
- Staying A Step Ahead of the Hackers: The Importance of Identifying Critical Web Application Vulnerabilities
- Managing A Growing Threat: An Executive's Guide to Web Application Security
- The Forrester Wave™: Web Filtering, Q2 2009
Get instant notifications when whitepapers, webcasts and case studies are added
to our library. Sign up for a Resource Alert now!
CSO Corporate Partners
CSO Perspectives
-
April 5-7, 2010Hyatt Regency Santa ClaraClick here for more information!
Santa Clara, California
(ISC)2 members can earn up to 24 CPE Credits!
