SCI/TECH: Spammers being put out of action, page 1

In an effort to help the public shuffling through fake products to reach the legit ones, Microsoft and Pfizer have filled lawsuits against the famous "Generic Viagara" spammers. This won't completely stop the spammers but a small step in the fight to have a spam free mailbox.

www.mercurynews.com
The suits were filed against John Does because, after months of investigation, Microsoft and Pfizer still don't know the identity of these spammers or their acolytes. But now, the firms can use subpoenas to uncover them, as Microsoft has done successfully in nearly 100 suits filed recently against some of the Internet's most infamous spam operators.

Don't expect Viagra spam -- or Ambien spam, Cialis spam, Vicodin spam, or spam in general -- to stop completely. But the increasing numbers of legal actions filed by Microsoft, other Internet service providers and state law enforcement authorities against spammers represent an encouraging development. They could change the economics of spam, making it increasingly difficult for spammers to turn a profit.

A bevy of suits by other ISPs have slapped spammers with fines ranging from $140,000 to $1 billion. The money won't be collected, but the spammers are on the run. And in Virginia a spammer was sentenced to nine years in prison.

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In my opinion, this action is so long overdue that this is almost irrelevant. All major mailboxes have filters for these kinds of spam and almost all are caught. Not only that there are millions of spammers out there, all it takes is one email account and ability to copy the email addresses from other spam mails you get.

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