N.Y. AG Sues Tagged Social Network Over 'Fraudulent' Emails

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 10, 2009 - 10:28am.

New York - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sued San Francisco-based social network Tagged, alleging the company violated users' privacy and used deceptive marketing practices to inflate site traffic.

The lawsuit alleges that Tagged sent over 60 million emails to Web users, stating that their friends had posted photos online.

When a user went to view the photos -- which did not exist -- they had to join the site. At this point, the company "would then illegally gain access to their personal email contacts to send more fraudulent invitations."

"Consumers had their privacy invaded and were forced into the embarrassing position of having to apologize to all their email contacts for Tagged's unethical -- and illegal -- behavior," said Cuomo.

"This very virulent form of spam is the online equivalent of breaking into a home, stealing address books, and sending phony mail to all of an individual's personal contacts."

Tagged most recently raised $5 million in December, from Horizon Technology Finance and Leader Ventures.

http://snipurl.com/miwdg (VentureBeat)

http://www.tagged.com

Published in DMW Daily, July 10, 2009

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