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Microsoft Joins Spitzer in Suits to Combat Spam

Yahoo! News - Microsoft Joins Spitzer in Suits to Combat Spam

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Thursday attempted to crack down on unsolicited e-mail messages, or spam, with joint lawsuits against a New York marketing firm and one individual.

Seattle-based Microsoft, the world's largest software company, said it and Spitzer were suing New York-based Synergy6 Inc., an e-mail marketing company based in New York, and Scott Richter, who it said is based in Colorado.

Richter is the world's third-largest spammer according to consumer advocacy group called the Register of Known Spam Operations, or ROKSO.

Microsoft, which has gone on the offensive against e-mail advertising touting everything from get-rich-quick schemes to pornographic Web sites, is developing anti-spam technology and also waging legal war against spammers.

Microsoft, whose MSN Internet and Hotmail e-mail services have millions of subscribers around the world, has said that spammers clog its networks with traffic and hurts consumers.

The e-mails appeared to come from a foreign government's defense ministry, from a hospital, and from elementary and high schools, according to the lawsuits filed in New York State court. They also used other people's sender names, false subject lines, fake server names, and inaccurate or misrepresented sender addresses.

Microsoft also said it filed five additional lawsuits against other spammers who allegedly used the same transmission path in New York that originally led investigators to Richter and the spam network.

Richter was not immediately available for comment. Representatives from Synergy6 were also not available.

Spitzer and Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith, who were holding a press conference in New York on Thursday morning, said that Richter and his accomplices in Washington, Texas and New York are responsible for seven spam campaigns, which violate consumer protection statutes in New York and Washington.

The lawsuits said Richter and his accomplices sent spam through 514 Internet addresses in 35 countries across six continents.

December 18, 2003 at 11:57 AM in Spam | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home