Its not exactly breaking news, but Myspace is sueing Scott Richter, an owner of affilaite network CPAEmpire, over what amounts to spamming affiliate offers through stolen Myspace member’s profiles.

Myspace is using the anti-spam CAN-SPAM law to go after Scott and his companies in civil court. There have been other rumours flying that many other companies and individuals will be sued, but nothing appears to have been made public yet. A press release later denied Myspace’s allegations. Additionaly, the lawsuit documents were leaked to WickedFire.

I wouldn’t address this issue at all, but the fact is I have strong connections to the affiliate marketing industry and so do my readers. I even have an account with CPA Empire. Hmm, I don’t think they will ever be seeing any of my traffic.

The fact is, those who have been using stolen accounts may very well have been commiting a criminal offense. Is the FBI looking into this? Considering the scale, I’d put my chips on yes.

My prediction — the companies and affilaites who cross the line aren’t going to be in this business very long. Don’t associate your business with criminals and you won’t attract their problems.