New York’s attorney general, Mario Cuomo, claims that Tagged.com stole the identities of more than 60 million internet users worldwide by raiding contact lists from their private accounts.
“This company lifted the address books and identities of millions of people,” Cuomo said in a statement, characterizing Tagged’s behavior as “unethical - and illegal.” Tagged would email people’s contacts baiting them to visit the site to view photos of a friend, even if such photos didn’t exist.
Cuomo indicated that he’ll file suit for deceptive marketing and invasion of privacy and seek to enjoin Tagged from engaging in “fraudulent practices” and seek fines.
TAGGED.com was founded by two Harvard math students, Greg Tseng & Johann Schleier-Smith. The site claims to have launched in 2003, amassing over 80 million members, of which Mr. Cuomo claims 60 million may have been acquired unlawfully.
Tagged halted its marketing campaign recently given a large number of user complaints, and maybe word that Mario Cuomo was going to augment their mathematics education with some juris prudence.
OPINION
Tagged isn’t alone in this behavior, they just weren’t as careful as other companies. See Giving it all Away Web2.0 Style, or Why Web2.0 must go.
For more info on the scam see the excessively verbose coverage at the Guardian.
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