WebProNews

The Microsoft Corp. is continuing its legal strike against Scott Richter, CEO of direct marketing firm OptInRealBig.com, LLC. who has been dubbed the world's third-largest spammer by ROKSO, the Register of Known Spam Operations, which is listed on http://www.spamhaus.org/, an anti-spam and consumer advocacy organization. Richter recently settled a similar lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

It is said that Richter and Spitzer have reached a settlement, but are still awaiting the courts approval. One stipulation to the settlement is that Richter would subject to "conduct restrictions".

Microsoft and Spitzer filed separate lawsuits in both New York and Washington against both OptInRealBing and Richter back in December, citing state fraud laws.

"Microsoft supports the New York Attorney General's settlement as it contains strong requirements designed to prevent illegal spamming," Microsoft internet safety enforcement attorney Aaron Kornblum said, according to Computer Business Review Online.

Kornblum claims that Microsoft's anti-spam efforts "are beginning to have a demonstrable negative financial impact to spammers." However, Computer Business Review Online reports Microsoft won't settle.

Microsoft alleges Richter misled people into opening his emails but Richter denies the charges.

In an interview with PCWorld, Ricther said that settling with Spitzer "was cheaper than spending millions of dollars fighting a lawsuit for years."

Both lawsuits were filed before the introduction of the federal CAN-SPAM Act in January.

"All our messages are CAN-SPAM compliant. We honor opt-out requests. We take what we do very seriously," Richter told PC World.

Discuss the CAN-SPAM law in WebProWorld, the WebProNews forum.

Jeremy Muncy is a staff writer for WebProNews.com