Major Email Providers Unite Against Spam with Coordinated Legal Assault

The nation's four largest email account providers - America Online, Earthlink Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Yahoo Inc. - have launched a coordinated legal attack on spammers, using a new federal law to file six lawsuits in various courts across the country. This strategic move aims to target some of the largest spam operations, which send hundreds of millions of unwanted emails to the companies' networks every month. The lawsuits, spearheaded by the companies' general counsels, signify the first major outcome of their consortium formed last spring to combat spam.

Key Takeaways:

• The four major email providers - America Online, Earthlink Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Yahoo Inc. - have filed six lawsuits against spammers under a new federal law.
• The lawsuits target some of the largest spam operations, accounting for hundreds of millions of unwanted emails hitting the companies' networks every month.
• The companies' general counsels have vowed to locate and sue spammers, with Randall Boe from AOL stating, "we're going to locate you and we're going to sue you."
• Each company has filed dozens of suits against spammers over the past several years using state anti-spam and fraud statutes.
• The new federal law facilitates lawsuits regardless of jurisdiction, allowing the companies to take more effective action against spammers.
• Several of the suits filed name defendants as "John Doe," indicating that further investigation is needed to identify the spammers' identities and operations.
• Alleged spammers are accused of selling mortgage schemes, organ-enhancement products, and services to help other spammers.

Statistics:

• Hundreds of millions of unwanted emails are sent to the companies' networks every month from targeted spam operations.
• The companies have filed dozens of suits against spammers each over the past several years.
• The lawsuits filed under the new federal law will help the companies more effectively suppress spam.

Sources:

• Jonathan Krim, The Washington Post