Redmond, June 18: Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it had filed lawsuits against those it claimed were responsible for flooding its MSN Internet service with more than 2 billion unsolicited e-mail messages and vowed to step up its campaign against spam in the courts. The world's largest software company said it had filed 15 lawsuits in the United States and the United Kingdom against spammers that had sent unsolicited e-mail touting everything from get-rich-quick schemes to pornographic Web sites.

The move to open a legal front in the fight against spam follows recent steps by Microsoft and other Internet industry players to work together to beef up their spam-blocking technology.
"We recognize that spam is a global problem," Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith told reporters at a news conference at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington headquarters. "We are ramping up our efforts to combat spam around the world."
Microsoft filed the lawsuits in Washington State, as well as in California and Britain, against companies and individuals involved in the email spam business. Bureau Report