Spam I Am
News that MySpace.com is suing Westminster's Scott Richter, once considered the third-largest producer of spam in the world, comes on the heels of recent articles in 5280 and elsewhere in which Richter insists his company is totally legit.
But then, "Mr. Spam Man" was making such assertions three years ago, too, in the midst of a slash-and-burn campaign by Microsoft and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to shut him down; the embattled Richter had plenty to say to Westword back then about how he acquired millions of e-mail addresses to hawk everything from diet pills to porn. He subsequently settled with New York for $50,000 and with Microsoft for a whopping $7 million.
MySpace accuses Richter of using phishing techniques to swipe passwords in order to bombard users with unsolicited messages (translation: spam). Richter's attorney, who also happens to be his dad, denies the allegations.
Personally, we're shocked. Shocked. --Alan Prendergast
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