Microsoft Wins $3.95 Million from Spammer

LehiNephi writes "A Washington, D.C. judge fined Daniel Khoshnood, a major spammer, for pretending to be Microsoft in order to attract customers. Specifically, he registered windowsupdate.com (not to be confused with windowsupdate.microsoft.com), then sent out mass email encouraging users to download a toolbar from that website. Although the suit was not specifically about spamming, the mass emails (and subsequent complaints) were what caught Microsoft's attention. So far, Microsoft's campaign against spam has netted them $54 million from six judgments, one dismissal, four settlements, and two bankruptcies. The article doesn't mention whether the toolbar actually lived up to its claims of automatically applying security patches."

Re:I have to say...

[KI4BBO.org]

yep, thats what I was saying, but now it belongs to them.. so I guess alls well that ends well :)

"Microsoft Wins $3.95 Million"

[Anonymous Coward]

Talk about conflicted. I'm not sure who to root for. Did the spammer use Linux?

How do we feel?

[Ensign Regis]

So, what do you do when evil is fighting evil?

Re:Re-distribute the cash?

[Myrmi]

"Microsoft has recently won a large lump sum of money from a spammer, and is redistributing the money to customers who may have been affected by his spam. In order to claim your money, forward this email to ten of your closest friends within the next 15 minutes"

The secret formula!

[MavEtJu]

1. Write a popular mail client which automatically executes arbitrary code.
2. Sue the people who hijack PCs via the above mentioned mail client.
3. Profit!

The enemy of my enemy is my friend...
I feel confused.

Re:"Microsoft Wins $3.95 Million"

[Anonymous Coward]

And even worse, now MS has to adjust their accounting to handle values 10,000,000. Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa.

A suggestion

[lxt]

As one of those who reported this to Microsoft, perhaps I should get some of the settlement? Don't suppose that's likely though...

Classic dilemma

[Alien54]

punishing spammers = good!
rewarding Microsoft = bad!

why am I so split over this?

[set headbangmode = 1]

Re:I have to say...

[arvindn]

I'm not at all surprised by that, considering that Microsoft can't even remember to register their own domain names [theregister.co.uk] ;-)

Slashdot MS Borg icon

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow with all the "How should we feel?" questions, I'm suprised its microsoft with the Borg icon.

/. moral dilemma

[thecombatwombat]

In other news, SCO wins $699 from Satan, Lord of Lies.

Yep.

Microsoft wins settlement

[ekstasy]

"In normal times, evil should be fought by good, but in times like this, well, it should be fought by another kind of evil." ..Come on, I had to.

Re:I have to say...

[TheGavster]

Registering a domain name is negative money. Letting someone else register it and then suing them is positive money. You might even be able to get the domain thrown in with the settlement.

Re:Classic dilemma

[johannesg]

This is definitely good. I mean, I hate Microsoft as much as any slashdotter, but once their Windows and Office monopolies disappear under a flurry of penguins (nasty stab wounds from those beaks, btw, but I digress) I wouldn't really want to see all those poor, misguided souls who work for them to lose their jobs. So maybe this is a first step towards a new, gentler (unless you are a spammer) Microsoft, one that is appreciated and praised by all (except spammers) for providing a vital public service. The new Microsoft, Guardian of the Network, Defender of Standards, and Tireless Destroyer of Software Patents and Copyright Extensions! They'll even have their own Linux distribution (Linux XP?) and GPL all of their current Windows source!

Of course, until that day comes, feel free to continue bashing them. I know I will ;-)

That sound you hear...

[Anonymous Coward]

... is that of thousands of Slashdotter heads simultaneously exploding.

Re:I have to say...

[0WaitState]

They did register windowsupdate, but did it on RealNames(tm).

Re:No, he used BSD.

[Quattro Vezina]

I guess that it's not dead after all...

No, he uses BSD, so his business is dying.

That patch bar

[thephotoman]

"The article doesn't mention whether the toolbar actually lived up to its claims of automatically applying security patches."

If it really did, Microsoft would have a fit! Either that, or it'd automatically download and install the Linux distro of the writer's choice.

The phony update site is still up.

[Animats]

The site is still up. Why didn't the court order it taken down? See WindowsUpdate.com [windowsupdate.com].

WARNING - do NOT click on the link above if you are running Microsoft Internet Explorer with Active-X controls enabled.

Question

[srenker]

Microsoft Wins $3.95 Million from Spammer

Did they click on the blinking monkey?

Re:I have to say...

[Orick]

It was actually windowsupdateNOW.com.

Of course, it is interesting to see a bunch of slashdotters actually taking a pro-microsoft stance on something. Must be getting pretty chilly for the devil about now...

--
Dust Devil Reviews [generalhouseware.com]