Microsoft files nine suits alleging e-mail abuse

Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

Microsoft Corp., which runs the MSN Internet sites and Hotmail free e-mail service, has filed nine lawsuits in the last month against companies and people that it says originate unwanted e-mail called "spam."

One suit was filed against a company that offered to host Web sites for spam senders in China to avoid being shut down by U.S. laws, Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement. The spam e-mails were made to look as if they were coming from MSN and Hotmail e-mail accounts and advertised services such as pornography and stock advice.

Spam costs U.S. businesses as much as $87 billion a year, according to a May report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

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