Microsoft Sues German Firm Over Spam

Spinner

Microsoft has launched a case against a German man believed to be the linchpin of a spam gang. The software maker's legal complaint was lodged against an unnamed company in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany and its managing director, according to a statement on the Microsoft Germany Web site. Microsoft alleges that the company sent out millions of spam e-mail messages advertising Web site design services, online casinos and pornography.

According to the complaint, the company is part of a wider spam group operating out of Ukraine and the United States. The managing director apparently spent long stretches of time in the United States, Microsoft said, where he built up a network of contacts. The man has allegedly been running spam-for-sale sites and a business renting servers, labeled "bulk mailers," to spam companies. For just $625 per month, a customer could buy enough server space to send 74 million e-mails a month, Microsoft said.

Source: News.com