Microsoft sues more alleged Hotmail spammers
607852
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has filed two lawsuits over the past weeks looking to crack down on spam on its Windows Live Hotmail network. The "John Doe" lawsuits were filed against unknown alleged spammers who had been sending large quantities of spam advertising debt relief and adult Web sites to Hotmail accounts. Microsoft alleges that a company doing business under the name Consumer Solutions Network sent "misleading, deceptive, and unsolicited commercial e-mails advertising debt relief help to Windows Live Hotmail account holders." The spam contained subject lines such as "Michelle, accounts over the limit," or "Robert, Payment not received," the suit alleges. Consumer Solutions Network, which could not be reached for comment on this story, operates several Internet domains including myfinancialsolutions.org, consumersolution.org, and financialsolutionsonline.org, according to Microsoft. Microsoft has also sued unnamed defendants for sending spam that promoted pornographic Web sites through Hotmail. Microsoft claims that these spammers not only flooded Hotmail accounts with unwanted messages, but also used Hotmail itself to send large volumes of spam. "Many of defendants' illegal e-mail messages were sent using ... accounts obtained through false or fraudulent pretenses," Microsoft claims. Companies like Microsoft, AOL, and Earthlink have launched a large number of these lawsuits in recent years, said Venkat Balasubramani, the principal of Balasubramani Law, and author of the Spam Notes blog. "They serve a deterrent purpose, and they also can be a mechanism for investigation. You can issue subpoenas and dig around a little bit to find what's going on," he said. Microsoft has filed such lawsuits on an almost-monthly basis over the past year, he added. In April and May of this year it filedÂ similar lawsuits against several alleged stock scammers. These latest lawsuits were filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle. The Consumer Solutions Network lawsuit was filed on June 13. The suit relating to pornographic spam was filed on Tuesday of this week.
520224
Continuing itsÂ worldwide assault on software piracy, Microsoft has filed 20 lawsuits against resellers accused of distributing unauthorized copies of its software.
5514
Anonymous writes &quot;Microsoft Corp. filed nine lawsuits against individuals and companies alleged to be involved in the distribution of spam, the company said Wednesday.
156168
Microsoft (Quote, Chart) fired another shot in its war on spam with a lawsuit against a Web hosting company that claimed to help spammers avoid being shut down.
219540
The software giant, Microsoft, has filed lawsuits against seven companies for violating the CAN-SPAM &quot;Brown Paper Wrapper&quot; rule.
155331
Microsoft has filed nine lawsuits against individuals and companies allegedly involved sending out spam, including one suit against a Web hosting company that claimed it was "bulletproof" and couldn't be shut down.
461460
As many as 18 million Hotmail subscribers will be weaned Monday from a free service that lets them export e-mail to another mail client, under Microsoft MSN&#39;s new spam-fighting plan.
587133
Microsoft announced today that is filing 7 lawsuits against spammers for failing to label sexually explicit messages. The lawsuits were filed in Washington State Superior Court, alleging that defendants violated
763467
MicrosoftÂ is again using the courts to pursue individuals allegedly responsible for spam e-mail campaigns, this time going after those who send out unsolicited and sexually explicit e-mail.
758987
Citing a rise in spam abuse, Microsoft Corp.&#39;s MSN division has ended free access to its Hotmail Web-based e-mail service through the Outlook and Outlook Express clients.
447462
Three Ontario men are being sued for allegedly sending millions of forged e-mail messages from Internet giants Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.
456548
By Bill Husted, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  Sep. 20--For the third time since June, Microsoft has filed lawsuits  against small metro area firms as it attempts to crack down on the sale of  unlicensed or counterfeit versions of its software.
479259
In a second round of lawsuits announced on Thursday, four major U.S. Internet service providers (ISPs) are taking on senders of e-mail spam and unwanted commercial messages sent via instant messaging.
65570
Microsoft has filed seven more lawsuits against spammers, this time targeting those who violate the &quot;brown-paper wrapper&quot; provision of the CAN-SPAM law, which sets rules for sexually oriented e-mail solicitations.
35948
Software giant Microsoft and pharmaceutical maker Pfizer announced parallel lawsuits against two "international pharmacy spam rings" selling purported generic versions of Viagra on the Internet.
402748
Suits filed against three individuals alleged to have used Hotmail to pump and dump various penny stocks.
627949
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. has initiated 97 lawsuits throughout Europe and the Middle East during its eight-month investigation into fraudulent Web pages, with another 32 criminal complaints filed in cooperation with local authorities, the company said Wednesday. All of the cases are against individuals who attempted to capture the log-in and password details of users by constructing fraudulent Hotmail and MSN.com sign-in pages, said Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, a Microsoft attorney. A total of 253 sites were investigated, he said. Microsoft'sÂ Global Phishing Enforcement program, started in March, aims to curtail fake Web sites built by criminals trying to obtain financial information or passwords by tricking users, so-called âphishing.â The company uses its technology to crawl the Internet to find Web pages that look suspicious, Le Toquin said. Once a phishing site has been identified, Microsoft either files a criminal complaint or forwards the information to prosecutors, depending on the countryâs legal requirements, Le Toquin said. By country, Turkey led the pack with 50 criminal complaints, followed by 28 in Germany and 11 in France. Legal actions were also filed in the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands and the U.K. Microsoft has settled with four phishers, all 16- to 20-year-old males, in France and Norway, Le Toquin said. Each of those pursued in France paid Microsoft â¬2,000 (US$2,564), a fine the company felt is in proportion to their actions, he said. Many of the fake sites were created by the phishers to trick their peers into divulging their log-in credentials, Le Toquin said. The phishers would try to lure their friends to the fake pages through links sent by instant messaging programs, he said. The purpose was to âtake control of the account of the victim,â Le Toquin said. Microsoft said it will continue its investigation, particularly focusing on phishing sites connected with more sophisticated hacking, Le Toquin said. Â