• June 18, 2008

An arbitrator has ruled that Scott Richter and his Web marketing company, Media Breakaway LLC of Westminster, Colo., must pay MySpace $4.8 million in damages and $1.2 million in attorney's fees for spamming MySpace members with unsolicited advertisements. Media Breakaway and its employees were also banned from the site.

MySpace had alleged that some of the messages were sent from accounts whose sign-on information had been hijacked by "phishing." Media Breakaway countered that rogue business affiliates--independent contractors who sent messages for Media Breakaway--were to blame for phishing and other improper behavior.

In a statement, Media Breakaway celebrated the fact that the arbitrator had awarded MySpace "95% less than the amount demanded" by the company.

--Tanya Irwin