Microsoft Corp. filed seven lawsuits against senders of spam, or unsolicited e-mail, for transmitting messages without labeling them as sexually explicit content, the world"s largest software maker said on Thursday. Microsoft said the defendants, who had yet to be identified in the lawsuit filed in Washington state"s King County Superior Court, violated the "CAN-SPAM" federal law requiring e-mail containing readily viewable sexually explicit images to be clearly identified.
The law requires that such e-mails contain the label "SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT:" in the subject line and at the top of e-mail messages. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said those responsible for sending the spam hacked into computers around the world to send their mass e-mailings and did not provide a way for recipients to remove their e-mail addresses from a subscription list.