Judge Awards $873M Fine For Spamming Facebook

A Canadian citizen was slapped with an $873 million fine Friday for sending approximately 4 million spam e-mail messages to Facebook users – the largest judgment ever handed down for a violation of the federal CAN-SPAM Act.

In March and April 2008, Adam Guerbuez and his company, Atlantic Blue Capital, used Facebook login information obtained through phishing schemes and third parties to send spam advertisements for marijuana, male enhancement drugs, and sexually oriented material to users' Facebook "Walls" and e-mail inboxes.

Guerbuez will also be responsible for attorneys' fees and costs, a number to be determined no later than December 12, according to the decision.

The CAN-SPAM Act, which went into effect in 2004, requires businesses to identify unsolicited e-mail as an advertisement and include contact information in the body of the e-mail so that consumers can opt-out of receiving future messages.

Judge Awards $873M Fine For Spamming Facebook