MySpace bans practice

Apparently the legal department at MySpace is busy.

The social network, owned by Newscorp., has sent cease and desist letters to several Web sites with services built to thrive off MySpace membership, a community in the tens of millions. The MySpace legal letters ask that piggybackers shut down.

DatingAnyone.com is one such site. The service, which started in April, let visitors investigate the relationship status of MySpace members, and then get updates via e-mail when that status changes.

According to MySpace, whose letter is posted to DatingAnyone.com, the service may seem innocuous, but it's against the law. "The means by which you (provide the service)...constitutes an automated script program, the use of which is expressly prohibited by Section 8 of the Terms of Use Agreement between MySpace and its users. Such programs place an undue burden on the MySpace servers, thus detrimentally affecting the ability of the website to function."

The letter goes on to cite a variety of other abuses, including trademark violation and using the said data for commercial purposes. Yet the first reason given isn't unlike how a search engine, such as Google, operates in order to obtain information on Web sites, it's just that Google wouldn't likely query MySpace as often.

SingleStat.us was targeted by MySpace legal for the same reason, and has recently shuttered its Web site.

Stalkerati.com, which invites people to "search for" members on MySpace, Friendster and other sites all from one place, also recently ran into a MySpace wall.

According to the site, "MySpace has recently added a script on their search pages that prevents you from searching from Stalkerati."

Stalkers are just routed to the source now.