'Spam King' Owes MySpace $6M

A Colorado company accused of spamming must pay MySpace $6 million in damages and legal fees after an arbitrator ruled for the social networking site, the AP reports. Media Breakaway and its CEO, aka the "Spam King," were accused of using hijacked or "phished" accounts to send millions of advertising messages to MySpace members. The site has banned the company and its employees.

"MySpace has essentially declared a war on spam and phishing on our site," said the chief security officer. The amount awarded is puny compared to the $230 million MySpace won in another spam lawsuit last month, and only a fraction of the amount MySpace sought, but the company hopes the suit will put more pressure on spammers. Media Breakaway said it had misunderstood MySpace's rules. (More MySpace stories.)