back to article Man ordered to pay Facebook $1bn

A Canadian man has been ordered to pay Facebook $1bn Canadian for a barrage of more than four million penis-enlargement ads he posted on user walls in 2008. That same year, a California court ordered Adam Guerbuez to pay the social networking site $873m for hacking into members' accounts and sending “sexually explicit messages …

COMMENTS

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  1. JaitcH
    FAIL

    Yet another ludicrous decision from a US court makes them a laughing stock

    Seems that the stupidity of the US Courts in awarding unenforceable sentences, obviously has spread to France, such as the 150 years for Madoff or this Quebecker has no limit.

    The reason the award was simply confirmed is because Canadian law allows awards made by other countries courts, where a semblance of justice exists, is permitted without further trial and is a 'rubber stamp' process.

    No doubt some of the Facebook dweebs could usefully use the information, so there was some utility to it AS WELL as proving that Facebook and security are two words that should never appear in the same sentence.

    I guess Adam Guerbuez' real penalty is that he is banned from Facebook.

    1. Steve the Cynic

      A title is required. Will "Lord Steve Of Cynic" do?

      I'm not sure I'd call being banned from Facebook a penalty...

    2. Flugal

      Unenforceable sentences

      Rather like former Societe Generale trader, Jerome Kerviel.

      Yes, he's only got a 3 year jail sentence, but has also been ordered to repay the damages of 4.9bn euros.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        He should give Ocean Finance a call...

        See above

  2. rahul
    Flame

    Guess..

    ..whose networth just shot up by $1Bln? Hint: Look under the "Accounts receivables" heading...

    There's nil chance of collecting, but hey; an asset is an asset. Hooray for the black-n-white world of accounting.

  3. TheNews

    Not $1 billion

    It's misleading to say that $873 million (US) is "about $1 billion" (CAD), because the two currencies are almost on par at the moment. It's $887 million - only a $4 million difference.

    Try to do some research before posting something that changes daily like currency values.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    banned from facebook - a penalty?

    I wont be first to say that banning someone from facebook is no punishment its rehabilitation!

  5. BristolBachelor Gold badge
    Coat

    every cloud has a silver lining

    "An order barring him from having a Facebook account "

    So it's not all bad news for him...

  6. iamapizza
    Thumb Up

    (oblig)

    likes this.

  7. SuperTim

    Surely....

    These "damages" would then be forwarded on to the owners of the walls that had the messages posted to them, as it is they that have been affected. Right?

    or will we all have to take it like a beeeatch?

  8. bex

    keep of the gin judge

    If you are going to be silly you might as well go the whole way. Sir you owe facebook a qwazilian dollers.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Where's My Dentures?

    $1bn fine that will never be paid. The same as the money awarded to that air head who's crappy picture was "stolen" by a "porn baron."

    The amount of tine, money and effort that was put into this toothless result is wasted. If the laws don't allow real judgements that hurt the guilty party then they're useless. This won't stop him carrying on, or others like him.

    They just serve to show that you can get away with it.

    Plus the lucky sod is banned from Facebook. That is not punishment.

  10. Hermes Conran
    Joke

    By my calculations,

    thats $560 per inch!

  11. Jon of Monkeys

    Banned from Facebook

    Hardly a penalty, more like they are doing him a favour.

    Why does Facebook get a pay off, and not users that may have been tormented by the actions of these individuals?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    and will facebook...

    be passing on any of the fine to the users who were ACTUALLY affected rather than just being the vehicle by which the messages were carried?

    Yeah - sure.

  13. Crazy Operations Guy
    Badgers

    Banned from facebook?

    Like that will work... He just has to change his IP and use a different name and hes back, not like they'd notice. So essentially nothing happened except a lot of tax-payer money being wasted.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Money Money Money

    Can facebook put the amount on its books as an asset?

    I bet they will :)

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