New York and Microsoft File Suits on E-Mail Spam

[SpencerH]

"By SAUL HANSELL

Published: December 18, 2003


liot Spitzer, the New York state attorney general, and Microsoft each filed suits today charging one of the nation's most prominent e-mail marketers with fraud stemming from sending unsolicited commercial e-mail, commonly known as spam.

The suits name three companies, including OptInRealBig, which is run by Scott Richter, who Mr. Spitzer said was the third-largest source of spam in the world, sending more than 250 million messages a day. Mr. Richter has been an outspoken defender of his marketing practices. He said in an interview on Wednesday that the accusations were baseless.

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Mr. Spitzer said he would seek $20 million in damages from Mr. Richter and the other defendants.

"We will drive them into bankruptcy," Mr. Spitzer said in a news conference today in New York. "Therefore others will not come into the marketplace because they will see there is no viable business model here."

The lawsuits, the most prominent in a recent flurry of legal efforts to attack spammers, are expected to shed light on the complex web of relationships and technologies behind such e-mail. They also represent an attempt to hold responsible not just those accused of sending e-mail fraudulently, but also those who benefit financially.

On Tuesday, President Bush signed a law that makes it a crime to send deceptive commercial e-mail. But even in advance of that law, which goes into effect on Jan. 1, state and federal authorities have started to move more aggressively against some of the most prominent bulk e-mailers and companies advertised by spam."


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/18/te...8CND-SPAM.html


Yeah!

[SpencerH]

I knew this would get a huge response.

[Spec]

About freakin time!!

Spec.

[Urban Ranger]

Good for them.

[Asher]

Microsoft is evil, they are in this to monopolize the spam industry because DirectX forces you to write directly to hardware.

[Skanky Burns]

I think Asher's hiatus has changed him somehow.

[Urban Ranger]

Nah, the usual stuff. Like conveniently forgetting the debates he lost, or putting words in other people's mouths, etc.

[Asher]

The debates I lost? You mean like you showing a fundamental misunderstanding about what DirectX is and how it works while spreading this FUD and stupidity to others, then ignoring that thread once you got your ass owned?

You lose virtually every debate you enter about computers, which is why you do your usual troll-and-run crap. You usually don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about, but you act like you do and try to give advice to others while doing so.

It's shameful.

You now extend your ridiculous stupidity under the guise of a moderator title, where you lock threads that would inadvertently showcase your own stupidity as "baiting" simply because you don't think things through when you say them. I'm not responsible for your inability to think coherently.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
I think Asher's hiatus has changed him somehow.

Yeah, he's mellowed a lot.

[Q Classic]

but directx is responsible for spam!

[PLATO]

UR, Asher,

Can we somehow have some peaceful co-existence?




OT-It is a movement that is gathering momentum. The anti-spam forces may well suceed in reducing spam, but they can never eliminate it.

[SpencerH]

For me, spam is way worse than telemarketers. I've lost important emails amidst the clutter of screening 50 spams. We wont eliminate spam but this is the first major step to cull it down a little. I cant sue the bastards but the fact that MS is doing so will scare the crap outa the spam business owners.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Asher
You lose virtually every debate you enter about computers, which is why you do your usual troll-and-run crap.

This is why you are one of my favorite posters.

[Asher]

Bump because Urban Ranger seems to have misplaced this thread.