CYBERSPACE – Popular social networking site MySpace.com has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against the so-called “spam king of Colorado,” Scott Richter, alleging that Richter violated the MySpace terms of service, as well as both state and federal laws.In a statement issued Tuesday, MySpace announced that it had filed the lawsuit alleging that Richter had violated the CAN-SPAM Act as well as California’s anti-spam statute, seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting Richter from using MySpace, as well as unspecified monetary damages.

“We’re committed to protecting our community from phishing and spam,” said Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace’s chief security officer, in the statement. “If it takes filing a federal suit to stop someone who violates the law and damages our members’ experience, then that’s what we’ll do.”

In its complaint, MySpace contends that during the second half of 2006 Richter and unidentified associates initiated millions of unsolicited email messages to MySpace users and claims that Richter either directly acquired MySpace account information through his own phishing, or acquired a list of phished MySpace accounts from which to launch spam campaigns promoting ring tones, T-shirts, and assorted other products.

Richter is CEO of a Colorado company called Media Breakaway and was previously the head of OptInRealBig.com, a mass email operation targeted by previous legal actions brought by Microsoft and former New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer.

Richter reportedly settled the Microsoft spam lawsuit for $7 million and came to a similar settlement with the State of New York, according to CNN.