MySpace Spam Money: What About the Users?
Ever seen the face of a spammer?
Exactly what you expected, right? This guy and his spam-buddy were busted by MySpace a few years ago for stealing users’ passwords, then posting spam messages on other profiles from the hijacked user account — more than 700,000 to be exact. This same guy is responsible for running a company that was sending 30 million spam messages PER DAY back in the 1990s. Classy. If this were medieval times, this man would definitely be getting the ax.
But instead, while many blog commenters have been asking for the death penalty, he and his buddy have to pay MySpace a whopping $230 million. Most bloggers and reporters on this topic seem to think there’s no way for MySpace to collect any money, but let’s say for a minute they receive every penny of what the federal judge awarded them… Where does that money go?
From what it sounds like, MySpace collects that money and can do whatever they want with it. But, aren’t MySpace users affected the most here? Shouldn’t they be assured a cut of the award?
In fact, it could be argued that MySpace built a platform that enabled the spamming and didn’t have the proper safeguards to prevent it. If these settlements become more common and are actually paid, what’s to stop companies from relaxing their spam prevention efforts and making a little side cash at the expense of their users?
Ok, that might be a little overblown, but if MySpace sees even a fraction of the settlement, I seriously hope the affected users who make MySpace the success that it is see a good chunk of that money.
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