Facebook spammer ordered to pay $711 million

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Jos

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Facebook has been awarded $711 million in damages against spammer Sanford Wallace for bombarding the social networking with phony wall posts and messages. The so-called “Spam King” was sued in February along with Adam Arzoomanian and Scott Shaw for allegedly obtaining login credentials for other users' accounts, and sending out links to phishing sites and other websites that paid spammers for referrals.

While Facebook isn't expecting to receive the full amount of the massive award, the company says they'll work hard to get everything they can and hope this will serve as a deterrent to all spammers. In addition to the damages, Judge Jeremy Fogel of U.S. District Court in Northern California's San Jose division referred Wallace for prosecution of criminal contempt of court, which means he could face jail time.

This isn't the first time Wallace has been targeted and fined. In May 2008, he was found guilty of violating the CAN-SPAM act and was ordered to pay $230 million for spamming and phishing on MySpace. Wallace was also hit with a nice $4 million fine from the FTC in 2006 and has faced numerous other suits in between.

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In my opinion the fines are just plain retarded. Give the guy prison time and be done with it. Fines like this that will never even remotely come close to being paid are worthless, and I find it hard to believe that he seriously caused that much money to be lost.

Prison time, enough with meaningless fines.
 
Agreed - but fines WITH prison time. This guy has more money than he knows what to do with - jail will be more of a deterrent than the fines.
 
Yeah, I agree. Prison time should have been his reward. I'm glad severe action is being taken against him though. I have no idea how much money the guy has, but I hope he loses it all!
 
Some people just never learn... After being caught once, I think I'd think twice before doing it again.
 
Agreed, he has been caught screwing with myspace, now he hits up facebook? not very bright. Also agree on the prison time. Lock him up for a while, and make him pay some fines and see what kind of tune he is singing then.
 
Ouch. I think he needs a good amount of jail time and then probation with NO internet (like house arrest). Some people never learn.
 
What do these spammers get out of doing this stuff. I understand "king of Nigeria" spam. At lease they can get money out of stupid people, but this? Get a JOB!
 
He will end up working for a company in charge of network security .
I think he makes a lot of money he considers his company to be the one stop shopping for spam,
and compares himself to Madonna and Howard Stern so he must have money.
I hope he gets spammed in the slammer, Ha Ha…I hate spam !!
 
Well, since we facebook users were IMHO the ones who received the most "damages" by the spammer, I think it's reasonable to say that those affected would receive a small portion of whatever is paid. I know that kind of thing would NEVER happen, but if we want to talk about who really received the most "damage", I'd say it's more the users. Has anyone else ever seen this ugly dude? I'd say he doesn't have to worry about rape, just being the next punching/shanking bag....
 
Simple solution... Seize all of his assets, liquidate them all to pay his fines, then throw him in jail for a nice stretch where he can be some huge hairy guy's girlfriend...

Then see how many spam czars soil themselves and begin to rethink their careers. All you need is one really good example to help curb their enthusiasm about the spam business.
 
I agree that the fines awarded are seldom collected and therefore the actual number is pointless. Jail time and seizing all assests (as the assets are from the proceeds of a crime) should be enforced.
 
I hope they take everything he has although he's probably hidden his assets away to avoid paying any taxes. He does deserve some jail time and he should never be allowed to operate or work at a company related to the computer or software industry.
 
I don't get it, you get caught multiple times and you're being fined millions upon millions of dollars and yet you still keep breaking the law over and over and over again. This seems to me to point out that either the justice system is entirely inadequate or there is something seriously wrong with this man.

I wish they would come down hard on this guy.
 
As a repeat offender, he does deserve a computer ban, or at least an internet ban (if that can even be enforced??).

As for paying for this crime, tis a hefty fine he will probably be paying for the rest of his life, but all assests obtained from the criminal act should deff be seized and put towards the fine payment.
 
It seems to me he's making more money that they can fine him (or he's not paying the fines) since he keeps on doing this.
 
I hate to disagree with all of you, but why do people fight a way of making money? All our white collar jobs are in India, so I guess we may resort to digging ditches and paving more roads. Is it so hard to press the delete key?
 
well... i doubt the fine is going to detour people from spamming. they spam and hack because it's a power trip for them. companies need to take these people into the fold and work with them to better their security.
 
I hate spammers. Even when I make websites for a client some kind of spam-bot finds their way into my database!

Even though I really don't think he will be able to pay the amount, its fun to say I guess. To me it's like the file sharing issue when they are fined some ridiculous amount that only ruins their lives.
 
fines. fines and more fines.. why don't they just throw this useless waste of space in JAIL already. He is not only guilty of all the spam but he costs an untold amount of damages in $ and time. Jail the bastard and that will send a REAL message about what will happen to those generating spam.
 
Seize all of his assets (like Madoff). Sell everything and distribute proportionately to all winners of previous lawsuits. Send him to jail. It seems to me that the Federal CAN-SPAM act should result in felony convictions (not misdemeanors). Three convictions of felony offenses should result in an automatic minimum jail sentence. What good are Federal laws if no one goes to jail?
 
I gald he has to pay all that money, what he does is out of pure annoyance to others for his own amusement. I hope they take everything he owns, including his facebook page(if he has one) and sells it.
 
First of all, who wants to buy a facebook page? That stuff is free. And second of all, I'm agreeing with the people suggesting the fine is too ridiculous. Do any of you honestly believe that such a fine can be paid by a civilian? Even with a lucrative business in the spamming and scamming industry, nobody makes that kind of cash. Otherwise, you'd never even HEAR from that guy ever again. He's buying an island and going away forever in international waters.

At the very least though, the guy was caught. A suitable punishment however is highly debatable. One thing is for sure. Paying a fine of ANY size is not a successful way to prevent this sort of stuff from happening again. If you got a speeding ticket for doing 200 miles per hour, and all you had to do was pay a fine, would that honestly stop you from speeding again? I highly doubt it.
 
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