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Porn spammers sued by Microsoft
Correspondents in Los Angeles
NOVEMBER 16, 2004
US software giant Microsoft has sued a group of spammers that it accuses of sending unsolicited emails promoting pornography to millions of its Hotmail customers.
The company filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on Friday seeking financial damages from an unidentified number of spammers, who were not named in the suit.
The suit alleges that spam email, or unsolicited commercial mail aimed at pointing Microsoft customers towards porn sites, "places a tremendous burden on Microsoft".
The messages take up room in the company's computer systems, "making those resources unavailable to serve the legitimate needs" of customers, the lawsuit stated.
The company provides free and subscription-based email service through its Hotmail and Internet Access services.
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The suit stated that many of the spam messages were sent by defendants using Hotmail accounts even though sending such missives is forbidden by company policy.
Messages also were sent in violation of both California state and US federal law, including a 2003 law known as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, the suit states.
While the names of the spammers remain unknown, the software group filed suit in Los Angeles because it believed the email hijackers regularly transact business in the area around the second largest US city.
The company claimed it has spent time and money developing technology to prevent its subscribers from sending or receiving spam, but that spammers continue to alter their methods.
Microsoft is asking that a judge bar the defendants from establishing accounts with its email services and order them to stop violating Microsoft's policy and state and federal law.
The company also requests statutory and compensatory damages.