REDMOND, Wash. — April 13, 2005 —Microsoft Corp. today praised California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for their filing of a joint lawsuit on Tuesday against defendants allegedly responsible for initiating the transmission of millions of commercial e-mail messages since Jan. 1, 2004.
The state of California and the FTC brought the lawsuit against four defendants in federal court in San Francisco. Microsoft’s Internet Safety Enforcement Team began investigating several of the defendants more than a year ago, and directly supported the lawsuit by providing evidence of illegal spam e-mails and other investigative materials to the Consumer Law Section of the State of California Office of the Attorney General, as well as by submitting an affidavit detailing MSN® Hotmail® policies to the FTC.
“The strong collaboration between state and federal government enforcers, as well as private industry, demonstrated in this case is critical in the battle against spam,” said Microsoft Internet Safety Enforcement Attorney Aaron Kornblum. “Microsoft is committed to supporting such important efforts by leaders like Attorney General Lockyer and the Federal Trade Commission.”
Microsoft works with government Internet safety enforcers across the country to combat online threats, and has supported actions against alleged spammers in Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington state. Last Monday, Florida attorney general Charlie Crist sued two Tampa-based spammers following a six-month collaborative investigation with Microsoft. On March 31, Microsoft joined representatives from the Federal Trade Commission and the National Consumer League in a formal announcement to promote awareness of phishing. At that time, Microsoft announced the filing of 117 civil suits against alleged phishers. Separately, Microsoft also has filed 97 civil lawsuits to date against alleged spammers in the United States.
Microsoft’s MSN Hotmail is the world’s largest Web-based e-mail service, with more than 200 million active accounts. Microsoft is determined to do everything it can – working with law enforcement agencies, crafting innovative software solutions and working with industry groups – to combating spam.
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