According to Microsoft, the illegal medicine distributors have sent "hundreds of millions" of spam messages to Hotmail customers using techniques that violate the US Can-Spam Act of 2003.
Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel at Microsoft, said that the joint Pfizer and Microsoft action is a 'wake-up call' to illegal internet traders. "At Microsoft we are combating this problem in every way we can, including with legal action, to help ensure that our consumers are protected from fraud," said Smith.
Jeff Kindler, executive vice president and general counsel at Pfizer said the action was necessary to protect the general public from the health risks associated with fake, illegal and unapproved products that claim to be Viagra.
"Pfizer is joining with Microsoft on these actions as part of our shared pledge to reduce the sale of these products and to fight the senders of unsolicited e-mail that overwhelms people's inboxes," said Kindler.
Microsoft estimates that adverts for male fertility drugs account for around one in four spam e-mails. The company explained in a statement that much of this spam is used to direct potential customers to one of a dozen identical Web sites that have been registered using stolen identities.
The drug orders that apparently received in New York and sent for processing in India via a call centre in Canada. Once processed the order are then delivered by a US-based air freight company.
The law suits are targeting online pharmacies -- DiscountRX, Virtual RX and EzyDrugStore.com - as well as the real owners of certain domain names including half-priceviagra.com, cheapviagrastore.com, viagra.com.ua, freeviagraclub.com, freegenericviagra.com, viagrastories.com, shopviagra.com, cheap-on-line-viagra.com, viagrarecords.com and bioviagra.com.
SPAM: Apple - you go after a schoolkids that prematurely advertise your products - how about you go after the spammers that flog your iPod over the P2P Gnutella networks by sending spam advertising for the iPod as a response to all searches made for anything on the Gnutella network using a hacked version of Limewire. They substitute their advertising and name it whatever you asked for, and after you download it - surprise - advert to buy an iPod.
These guys are now known as the 'Limewire iPod spammers' - sorta gives you a bad name doesn't it? Certainly I wouldn't buy an iPod from someone that falsely sent me an advert in response to my searching for something else, be it a music album, movie, instruction manual, or even photos.
Try the 24.xx.xx.xx IP range - thats where they reside. In the grand ole USA where you can sue the pants off them, and leave me to my quiet P2P searching (for legitimate material I may add).
They probably are using ripoff merchandise - the prices are too good to believe. Maybe they are just peddling fake iPods...
This just shows how human nature is: take advantage of anybodys reputation, be it Viagra, or the popular iPod - if you can rip somebody off by using the good name and research dollers of a big organisation - somebody will try it.