After a long legal process started in January 2007, MySpace is finally going to receive its claimed retributions from "Spam King" Scott Richter and his Web marketing company Media Breakaway LLC. The company was accused of spamming MySpace’s users with unsolicited advertisements and the damages were calculated at $4.8 million and another $1.2 million will be paid for trial fees. The court’s decision also bans Media Breakaway from the social-networking Web site.

According to MySpace, the spamming activities were focused on a Web address called consumerpromotionscenter.com and Breakaway was sending the spam messages leaving the impression to users that they were invited by their friends to visit the advertising Web site.

Media Breakaway stated that it is fair to be held responsible for the numerous spam messages sent to MySpace’s subscribers but added that it will not assume responsibility for its own affiliates who violated Breakaway’s terms and conditions. The statement was presented by Scott Richter’s father, Steven Richter, who is Media Breakaway’s president and general counsel. He also added that there have been significant efforts made inside the company in order to avoid such incidents from happening in the future.

The $6 million penalty represents only 5 percent of the total amount requested by MySpace and should be considered a bargain compared to the $230 million which Sanford Wallace and partner Walter Rines have to pay the networking company after last month’s ruling. The two were found guilty of stealing passwords and sending close to 30 million junk e-mails to the subscribers on MySpace. The decision is the largest anti-spam judgment ever.

"MySpace has essentially declared a war on spam and phishing on our site," Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer, said in an interview, according to the Associated Press.