Facebook is suing three guys – Jeremi Fisher, Philip Porembski, Ryan Shimeall and their associated companies Choko Systems, Harm, and iMedia Online Services, in a U.S. federal court. The lawsuit alleges the defendants of using phishing techniques to get access to Facebook user profiles and then using these profiles to send spam to their friends.
CNET reports that the lawsuit makes claims under the Can-Spam (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Anti-Phishing Act and the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.
This is the latest lawsuit filed by Facebook in recent times. Prior to this Facebook filed and won a lawsuit against “spam king” Sanford Wallace, popularly known as “Spam”ford Wallace. Facebook was awarded $711 million in a judgement against “Spam”ford Wallace.
Facebook is also the recipient of the largest award under the Can-Spam Act, and won $873 million in its lawsuit against Adam Guerbuez, of Montreal, and his company, Atlantis Blue Capital.
Spamming and phishing are not the only worries of Facebook. According to recent research by security company AVG, banks are using shadowy apps to harvest user data to be used for financial purposes – without the prior approval or knowledge of both Facebook and its users. Facebook has yet to acknowledge the existence of such scams.
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[...] Faceoff (December 20) Facebook continues its quest against improper use of its network, including a recently-filed action against certain alleged high profile hijackers and spammers. Story here, here, and here. [...]