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Microsoft and Amazon take spam suits to "Head Operation"

Microsoft and Amazon take spam suits to Head Operation - Computer Business Review

Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc have filed a number of lawsuits, including one jointly filed complaint, against people they accuse of spamming their users and spoofing email headers to resemble mail sent from the two companies.

29 Sep 2004, 09:43 GMT -
The companies highlighted a joint lawsuit against the Head family of Kitchener, Ontario, who have previously been successfully sued by Yahoo! Inc, which called them the "Head Operation". The Heads say they are no longer in business.

Microsoft and Amazon claim that Barry Head, his sons Eric and Matthew, and their company Gold Disk Canada Inc, sent millions of spams to their users, spoofing email headers to appear to come from Microsoft and Amazon domains.

The Heads "sent large volumes of e-mail messages advertising the sale of 'Human Growth Hormone,' cable descramblers, penis enlargement products, debt consolidation, merchant card processing services, and other goods and services of questionable value," the complaint claims.

"We've been collaborating for the past year," Microsoft senior attorney Tim Cranton said of the Amazon relationship. "We realized in the last few months we could probably get more bang for the buck by filing together."

According to their lawyer, the Heads went out of business after settling a March 2004 lawsuit filed by Yahoo. The settlement, for a reported six-figure sum, came after Yahoo accused the group of sending 94 million spams to Yahoo users.

"Eric Head and his related companies have been out of business for some time. We will address the new allegations in the appropriate forum," Huey Cotton of the law firm Cozen O'Connor, who represents the Heads, told ComputerWire yesterday.

In June, the Toronto Star reported that Eric Head had quit spamming following the Yahoo settlement to become a drummer in a band. He also reportedly vowed to use his knowledge to help young people be safer on the internet.

"I urge everyone who is involved in the commercial bulk email business to cease all operations unless and until they are completely compliant with the requirements of the new US anti-spam laws," Head reportedly said.

Microsoft's Cranton said: "We want to hold spammers responsible for all their spam activity, not just for the acts covered in another lawsuit." He said the suing companies want an injunction preventing the Heads from spamming.

Amazon has also filed three John Doe suits against alleged phishing attackers that try to trick Amazon customers out of their credit card information. Microsoft also filed another spam suit against a defendant Amazon has previously sued.

September 29, 2004 at 07:49 AM in Microsoft | Permalink | TrackBack (2) | Top of page | Blog Home