Microsoft sues Israeli spammer
Israeli spammer swamped mailboxes by sending one million messages daily
The lawsuit submitted to the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court on Tuesday stated the defendant, Amir Gans and his company New Approach, are the leading disseminators of junk mail in Israel.
Microsoft is suing damages totaling NIS 2.5 million (USD 572,000)
According to the suit, Ganes swamped mailboxes with spam, allegedly sent as though they had originated with Hotmail Israel. This prevented
subscribers from filtering their incoming mail and recipients were unable to identify the true source.
The lawsuit also states Gans offered to sell segmented database information on a million and a half people.
He is also suspected of sending messages with sexual content to minors.
Letter of warning
According to the indictment, Microsoft and MSN had sent Gans a letter of warning prior to taking legal action.
The letter stated Gans had sent spam to hotmail subscribers and in several instances even used slander. It also stated Microsoft would not file a formal suit if Gans agreed to stop sending spam to hotmail subscribers, and adhered to the user terms of the service.
He was also asked to compensate Microsoft in the amount of NIS 500,000 for damages and expenses, and to publish a public apology.
Gans said the letter constituted extortion under
threat and was an attempt to illegally collect sponsorship fees.
“You will not succeed in hiding behind a legal façade,” he said.
Ganes said he would file a complaint with police for threats and for invasion of privacy.
According to the suit, up to 0.78 percent of total world spam is generated in Israel. (16th place)
