Microsoft has filed 15 lawsuits against alleged spammers in both the United States and the United Kingdom as part of its global offensive against spam.
The defendants flooded Microsoft’s systems and customers with more than 2 billion deceptive and unsolicited e-mal messages, the company said.
PointCom Inc., of California, and related firms warned recipients that a virus had been detected on their computers, according to Microsoft.
The actions include a suit against Email Gold Inc., Linda Jean Lightfoot, Eddie Davis and Netgold Inc., of Dayton Ohio.
These defendants sent e-mails advertising a CD containing the tools necessary to become a high-volume spammer, and continued to do so after being warned to cease and desist by Microsoft, the firm said. They also false identified msn.com and hotmail.com as the origin of the e-mails.
The defendants in this case also offered to sell 30 million e-mail addresses to one-be spammers, Microsoft alleged.
Another case was filed against the E-Offer Store, Haddonfield, NJ. It alleged that the company sent unsolicited e-mail with deceptive subject lines indicating that the recipient had a business relationship with the sender.
Most of the U.S. cases were filed in King County Superior Court in the Washington under the state’s tough anti-spam law, which provides Internet service providers with broad leeway for taking action against spammers.
The suits were announced yesterday in a press conference led by Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith. Washington Attorney General Christine Gregiore also spoke.
"By coming together to solve the problem of spam, government and industry can and will restore to consumers the promise of a trustworthy, more productive e-mail experience," said Smith in a statement.
Cases were also filed against Giantlinks Inc. and the PlanetClick Holding Co., New York; Interweb Hosting LLC, Pittsburgh; RHC Direct LLC, Murray, UH; Rockin Time Holdings, Miami; TranzAct Media Inc., New York; VMS Inc. and Proform4Life Inc., Port Richey, FL. In addition, there were several John Doe defendants.
