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"Spam King" for Facebook spam turns in
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 09 August 2011, 00:55 IST
Bangalore: Scandalous spam king Sanford Wallace is charged for allegedly breaking into Facebook accounts and sending 27 million spam messages in 2008 and 2009. Sanford surrendered himself to the FBI agents in California.
He has been charged of developing a program that breached Facebook spam filters and lured users to submit their account details. But Sanford denies all the charges that can carry him to prison sentence of at least 10 years. He has been released on $100,000 bail. If convicted, Sanford could get more than 16 years in prison.
Back in the 1990s, Sanford derived popularity as one of spam's most vocal defenders and he has faced numerous civil actions over his activities, including lawsuits from MySpace and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. However this is the first time he's facing criminal charges.
Facebook has also sued Sanford, and won a U.S.$711 million civil judgment against him. According to that judgment, he was prohibited from using Facebook and it is contempt of court for allegedly logging onto the social network during an April 2009 Virgin Airlines flight from Las Vegas to New York. Moreover, Sanford has also allegedly set up a Facebook profile in January of this year under fake user name.
Facebook said in an e-mailed statement, "We applaud the efforts of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI to bring spammers to justice." It further added, "Now Wallace also faces serious jail time for this illegal conduct. We will continue to pursue and support both civil and criminal consequences for spammers,or others who attempt to harm Facebook or the people who use our service."
Sanford was released Thursday on a $100,000 bond. His next appearance is set for Aug. 22 at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, California
