Net biggies file anti-spam lawsuits

In an apparent coordinated effort to stop 'spam', four major Internet providers - American Online, Earthlink, Yahoo and Microsoft - have filed lawsuits seeking monetary damages and injunctions against senders' bulk junk e-mail.

The suits, filed under new federal anti-spam law, which went into effect on January 1, come in the wake of increasing percentage of junk mail. The lawsuits were filed in federal courts in California, Georgia, Virginia and Washington state.

Almost 62 per cent of all e-mail in February was junk up from 58 per cent in December, The New York Times quoted Brightmail, an e-mail filter company, as saying.

America Online filed a case against Davis Wolfgang Hwake, Yahoo against Golddisk and Microsoft JDO Media of Ocala. The Times described Hawke as a former leader of a neo-Nazi organisation.

Besides, they are suing 220 others who they say are sending junk mail but have not been identified so far.

"We are trying to find the biggest, the baddest and the most notorious," Randall Boe, the top lawyer for America Online told The Times. "When we work together it helps us find the most high-impact defendants."

Experts, however do not expect their efforts, including legal action, would be able to stop junk mail.

"We have been operating under a regime where ISP's can sue spammers for eight years. When you cut off one head of the hydra, two more heads pop up," David Kramer, an expert in anti-spam law at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm in California was quoted as saying.