New Bid To Slam Spam

Microsoft Corp. and the New York state attorney general filed suit Thursday against what they said was a spam ring responsible for sending billions of illegal e-mail messages.

The suits targeted Scott Richter, who has been identified as one of the world's most prolific senders of spam, or unwanted e-mail.

The lawsuits, filed in Manhattan state Supreme Court, accuse Richter and "accomplices" of sending illegal spam in 35 countries and disguising their work to prevent irritated consumers from tracing it.

Richter could not be immediately reached for comment, but he told The New York Times for Thursday editions that the suits were baseless.

In a statement, Microsoft said the e-mail campaigns used common spam techniques such as forged sender names, false subject lines, fake server names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender addresses, or obscured transmission paths.

"Deceptive and illegal spam, like the kind we're attacking today, is overwhelming legitimate e-mail and threatening the promise and potential of the Internet for all of us," said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel at Microsoft.

The suits were brought under a New York state law that prohibits deceptive business practices.

Spitzer's suit asked the court to fine Richter and his associates $500 for each fraudulent statement made in an e-mail, in hopes of driving him out of business.

In a single month this spring, Spitzer said, his office uncovered 40,000 fraudulent statements made in 8,000 spam e-mails that were traced to Richter and his associates.