Microsoft Takes Spammers To CourtMicrosoft Takes Spammers To Court

Microsoft has filed 15 civil suits in the United States and the United Kingdom against spammers who it says have sent more than 2 billion unsolicited messages to users of Microsoft's MSN and Hotmail E-mail services.

Microsoft executives provided details of an investigation that tracked spam activity across 34 international borders, ultimately identifying some of the most notorious spammers abusing Microsoft's E-mail networks. The cases, which received the support of Christine Gregoire, attorney general for the state of Washington, and Iain Bourne, strategic policy manager for the UK Data Protection Authority's Information Commissioner's office, offer a glimpse into a variety of spammers' tactics, including locating servers in overseas locales.

Most of the alleged spammers engaged in fraudulent or deceptive practices, said Brad Smith, Microsoft's senior VP and general counsel. One of the alleged spammers convinced recipients they needed a patch to remove a virus, but instead enticed them to download a disguised program that monitored their subsequent Internet activity. Another offered a credit-card refund that turned out to be a pyramid scheme. Yet another provided instructions for effective spamming.

Gregoire, one of the leading anti-spam voices in the government sector, called for continued collaboration between private-sector companies, government agencies and legislators, which she said is needed to make the economics of spam less attractive to spammers. "Spam is no longer just an annoyance to consumers," Gregoire said. "It is jeopardizing the credibility and viability of valid E-commerce."

Jean-Philippe Courtois, VP and CEO of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the company is stepping up its anti-spam campaign in Europe, including the two suits filed in the U.K. and the recent launch of a European Web site where consumers can learn how to protect themselves from spam. But Courtois expects the adoption of Europe's electronic data-protection initiative by growing numbers of countries over the next several months to be a trigger for increased anti-spam coordination. That's key, said Bourne, because the problem has become too big for U.K. regulators to tackle by themselves. "If we don't do something now, it's probably going to be too late," he said.

Still, Smith stressed that Microsoft wouldn't support combating spam by making all forms of unsolicited commercial E-mail illegal; this, he said, would make it too difficult for companies to maintain legitimate relationships with customers. Added Smith, "I don't think we need to throw the baby out with the bath water just because there's a lot of bathwater here."