Facebook sues social network spammers

Alleged anti-social behaviour provokes lawsuit

By John Leyden, 17th December 2009

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Facebook has launched lawsuits against a trio of alleged high profile hijackers and spammers.

A lawsuit filed in an unspecified federal court charges Jeremi Fisher, Philip Porembski, and Ryan Shimeall of "phishing Facebook users and sending spam from their accounts", the social networking website said in a statement. Also named as defendants are Choko Systems, Harm, Inc., and iMedia Online Services, LLC, three firms associated with the alleged spammers.

The defendants face charges of violations against the CAN-SPAM Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Anti-Phishing Act, and the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.

The legal action, lodged on Monday, is part of Facebook's ongoing fight against spam. Previously legal actions have resulted in the award of $711m in damages against Sanford 'Spamford' Wallace

In November 2008, Facebook won a $873m judgment against Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital.

Whether Facebook will ever see any of this money remains doubtful. Facebook said its legal offensive, which dovetails with its efforts to educate users about the dangers of phishing and related security risks, act as a deterrent. "We’ll continue to aggressively pursue damages against other spammers," it added. ®

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