Facebook Spammer Fined $873 Million, Now All They Have To Do Is Catch Him
Facebook has won $873 million judgment against a Canadian man who bombarded the popular online hangout with sexually explicit “spam” messages. The victory, sealed with a judge’s order issued last Friday, probably won’t yield a windfall for privately held Facebook Inc., whose revenue this year is expected to range between $250 million to $300 million. Court records indicate the alleged spammer, Adam Guerbuez of Montreal, has been difficult to find since Facebook sued him four months ago. But Facebook is hoping the size of the judgment will scare off other spammers who might be tempted to target the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company’s audience of more than 120 million users. [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]
IT’S HERE: Toxic Melamine Found In U.S. Baby Formula
U.S. health officials have found trace amounts of the chemical melamine in one sample of infant formula sold in the United States, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said on Tuesday. “There’s no basis for concern because we’re talking about trace levels that are so low … that there’s absolutely no risk,” FDA spokeswoman Judy Leon said. Melamine-tainted formula was found earlier this year in China, where thousands of children fell ill and several died. In September, the FDA sought to assure parents and said there was no similar contamination threat in the United States. The chemical, normally used to make plastics, has been found in milk power, wheat gluten and other Chinese-made ingredients used in products ranging from pet food to candy. Melamine’s ability to make foods appear to have higher amounts of protein during testing has made it a cheap but dangerous substitute that can damage the kidneys. [via REUTERS]
AND THEN THEY CAME FOR THE BLOGS: Technorati Announces Layoffs, Pay Cuts
Technorati announced on Tuesday that it was laying off six employees and cutting pay for the remaining members of the blog search engine company. Richard Jalichandra, the president and chief executive of the San Francisco-based startup, a leading site used to track and index blogs, announced the moves in a posting on the company blog. “There’s not much I can say about the economy that hasn’t been said a hundred times already,” Jalichandra wrote. “We’re facing the worst crisis of our lifetimes, and no one can say with certainty what lies ahead or how long it will last.” Jalichandra said that to allow the company to “weather the storm,” six employees were being laid off and two others would not be replaced. He said management would be taking pay cuts ranging from 15 percent to 25 percent and remaining employees would have their pay cut by 10 percent. Technorati is the latest Silicon Valley company to announce job cuts. [via BREITBART]