• by October 29, 2004

In case you missed it, the four biggest providers of e-mail - America Online, EarthLink, Microsoft, and Yahoo! - this week sued junk e-mail senders via the federal Can-Spam law. The six lawsuits represent the second wave of legal action taken by the Anti-Spam Alliance to which the companies belong.

The suits targeting spammers were filed in Washington state, California, and Georgia and cover all manner of junk e-mail including peddlers of unsolicited pharmaceuticals, pornography, mortgages, and other products and services.

In addition to lawsuits against spammers, there's now something referred to as "spim." The term refers to senders of unsolicited, unwanted messages via instant messaging. Can you think of anything more annoying? AOL said it filed two suits in federal court in Alexandria, Va., citing 20 individuals who used instant messaging and chat rooms to send unsolicited messages and 10 senders pitching prescription drugs and controlled substances. The senders weren't identified.

The companies' suits charge that the alleged spammers rerouted e-mails, spoofed Internet domains, and created fake messages designed to slip through spam filters. The suits allege that the schemes attempted to gather and resell consumers' e-mail addresses and contact information.

Apparently Yahoo! reported receiving more than 140,000 complaints related to unsolicited e-mails from two companies - East Coast Exotics Entertainment and Epoth. Yahoo!'s suit alleged that the companies disguised their identity and used sexually explicit subject lines to send unwanted, sexually oriented content.