Tagged.com accused of stealing 60 million identities

If you haven't received a come-on from Tagged.com, you're definitely in the minority. Emails from the supposed social networking site have often been a daily occurrence, and they're always enticing with their "so-and-so sent you photos on Tagged!" content.

The problem: Virtually no one has ever sent anyone photos on Tagged. Instead, what happens is that when recipients receive those messages about photos and click on the links to sign up, Tagged scours their address book and sends an identical message to everyone in it. No photos are ever sent, of course, but Tagged gains more and more users, avalanche style, as the clicks continue to add up.

Tagged says it obtained 80 million "members" this way -- all through the power of what are essentially spam techniques.

And now the G-men are getting involved, as New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo says that Tagged.com amounts to a giant identity theft operation, which he plans to sue for "deceptive marketing and invasion of privacy." In a statement he says, "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."

The upcoming lawsuit is said to seek to put an end to the dubious user harvesting practice and aims to collect fines from Tagged as well.

Meanwhile, if you've noticed a decrease in the flood of messages, it's because Tagged suspended the above-described email campaign last month, reportedly because of user complaints. ("Some members complained that they had inadvertently elected to send invitations to all the contacts they had uploaded," says the company.) The company however is still in operation, and visitors to its home page are offered the opportunity to access "chat, flirt, photos, games, and more!"

Tagged defends itself and offers its side of the story in a blog post here. Is what Tagged doing illegal? You be the judge -- but both Classmates and Reunion.com, which took similarly deceptive paths toward obtaining members, have been sued for the practice.