http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/08/09/financial/f044522D88.DTLMicrosoft Corp. has won a $7 million settlement from a man once billed as one of the world's most prolific spammers.
The software maker heralded the deal as a coup in the ongoing fight against unsolicited commercial e-mails, known as spam. Microsoft said the money from Scott Richter and his company, OptInRealBig.com, will be used to boost efforts to combat spam and other computer misuse.
"People engage in spam to make money," Brad Smith, Microsoft's chief counsel, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We have now proven that we can take one of the most profitable spammers in the world and separate him from his money. And I think that sends a powerful message to other people who might be tempted to engage in illegal spam."
The deal is the second stemming from joint lawsuits Microsoft and New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed in December 2003 after Microsoft set "spam traps" that netted some 8,000 messages containing 40,000 fraudulent statements. The lawsuits sought as much as $20 million in fines against members of a sprawling spam ring.
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