Quebec spammer must pay $873 million US fine: judge
A Quebec man, Adam Guerbuez [pictured], received more than a slap on the wrist for sending over four million spam messages over Facebook in 2008. He’s on the hook for $873 million US after a Quebec judge upheld the ruling of a California judge who said Guerbuez violated U.S. commerce laws.
In her Sept. 28 ruling, Quebec Judge Lucie Fournier ordered Guerbuez to pay $100 US in damages and $100 US in punitive damages for each of the 4,366,386 spam messages he sent to Facebook users in 2008.
Fournier also forbade Guerbuez from having a Facebook account or being involved in any way with the social-networking site ever again.
Guerbuez sent more than four million messages to Facebook users, praising the use of marijuana and drugs for erectile dysfunction.
Some of the messages contained sexually explicit material.
Guerbuez also used Facebook to steal email addresses and passwords from users, which were used to generate further spam.
It is highly doubtful that Guerbuez (who calls himself “The $873 Million Man”) will ever be able to pay the damages, but he will file for bankruptcy, and it’s likely that Facebook was trying to send a message to discourage future spammers.
Guerbuez has announced on his blog that he will be holding a press conference tomorrow after being “bombarded” by calls for interviews; if Guerbuez does hold his press conference (slated to take place somewhere “in the Montreal region;” nice planning, chump), Techvibes will have an update with what he has to say.
And don’t worry — even though Guerbuez is done for, there are still plenty of other spammers that will take his place. And Facebook already has a new way for users to hear marijuana being praised.
