Tagged.com, which bills itself as the “third-largest” social networking site in America, is being sued by the state of New York for “deceptive email marketing practices and invasion of privacy,” due to their practice of what amounts to chain-email. When an unsuspecting new user signed up for the site, Tagged would mine their address book and send out a message to everyone in it which told the recipients that their friend had posted photos on the site for them to view. No photos actually existed, and if anyone tried to view them, they were forced to sign up ... more

MySpace’s chief security officer is quoted today in USA Today proudly saying: “Today we are declaring victory in the war on spam and phishing.” Later in the article, we find out that they are merely claiming to have reduced spam, from 49% to 99.5% (depending on the type). I’m not so sure that’s exactly “victory,” myself. I found Investors Business Daily a bit more believable on the subject, though. In an article which gives an overview of the scope of fraud, they write: More than 1.2 million people filed a complaint of fraud, identity theft or a ... more