Pfizer and Microsoft go after Viagra Spammers

Weird_Hock writes "This story from Reuters tells about the joint effort from Pfizer and Microsoft to go after illegal sellers of Viagra. Pfizer is going after the sellers and Microsoft after the spammers. Looks like they're targeting both sides of the money chain."

Comments

No Case

[fembots]

Spammers are selling V|agra you silly!

Microsoft should double-dip and file a parallel lawsuits against spammers who sell Full Version WinXP PRO for $35.

Stop taking the fun out of life!

[themaddone]

First they go after my music... then they go after my drugs...

But they'll never get my... my... ohmigod, what do I have left??

Re:Stop taking the fun out of life!

[flint]

Your rifle. Cause without Viagra your gun is useless.

"This is my rifle, this is my gun, this is for killing, this is for fun."

Analysts..

[Anonymous Coward]

..are predicting a long, hard battle.

Re:Analysts..

[Anonymous Coward]

...with stiff penalties.

Oh no!

[enoraM]

Now I have to settle for my increase in girth, length and volume, since they will also go for v1agra and v!agra

Anyhow - if the big dogs are moving now - after the can-spam-act, it's interesting what kind of stable equilibruum the next generation spam will be. It won't go away - It'll just reach the next stage.

On the bottom of the first page are the stock qoutes von Pfizer and Microsoft. There is a horizontal movement of Pfizer and a slight downward movement of Microsoft. What does that suggest about the markets expectation of future distribution of vi4gra?

As always

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Microsoft want to be the biggest dicks around...

Just maybe...

[gammygator]

Maybe they'll come up with a product that keeps my servers up.

Re:There's a joke here

[Anonymous Coward]

Lets not go about this half cocked. Microsoft and Pfizer will need to get a firm grip on the situation, and stroking big egos won't make the solution come any sooner.

let the jokes begin!

[Maskirovka]

Time for the scumbags to bend over and feel the wrath!

Someone is gonna be in a world of hurt.

MS and pfizer are going to spread some love around.

There will be swelling in some lawyers'...pockets.

No carrots for the spammers. Just some bloated, throbbing, heavy-handed...sticks.

hmm

[GotSanity]

is it just me or does it seem like microsoft and pfizer are going to be mutualy beneficial out of this one. pfizer's profits get to go back up and microsoft gets a ton of viagra. That should make the programmers happy. :)

Re:hmm

[PedanticSpellingTrol]

Being both micro and soft, they could really use it too.

First draft of the press release:

[FunWithHeadlines]

Pfizer and Microsoft announced today that they had stiffened their resolve to go after sellers of counterfeit Viagra(r). They realized such spams were peaking, and they knew they had to harden the course for such counterfeiters.

"These guys think they can keep profits rising endlessly," complained a Pfizer spokesperson. "They are really beginning to poke us in the eye with their nonsense. We are a big company, and Viagra has helped up grow considerably. We won't let these crooks cut our profits off prematurely."

(Memo to editorial staff: Does the above sound right? Something seems a bit odd.)

If there's one thing big criminals don't like...

[Red Rocket]

...it's small-time criminals moochin' in on their racket.

I forward all WinXP spams to MS

[wowbagger]

I forward all spams I get that offer Microsoft software on to MS.

I figure that I'll let MS spend their money on going after the spammers - after all, the enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy, and is useful to me.

I get a nice auto-ack from MS with a tracking number for each report. What does that mean? That I get a nice auto-ack from MS with a tracking number - I have no way of knowing for sure that they do anything with the reports.

But hey, it if nukes a spammer and/or costs MS money, then it's worth it.

Re:I forward all WinXP spams to MS

[pe1chl]

I forward them the lottery scams that refer to domains registered on their "MSN Personal domains" service.
They do not seem to care.

Interestingly enough, the names shifted from (variations on) cashchangeukltd.org, which is just the name of a fraudulent organization, to (variations on) ms-wordpromo.com, which could be seen as a trademark violation by their triggerhappy lawyers. You know, those that went after names like mikerowesoft.com because it was too much like a trademark they registered.

But despite several reports, nothing seems to happen. They just go on facilitating fraud, and even do so under their own trademarked names.

I start to believe that there is nothing more than a tracking number generator behind those reporting addresses, and the big Microsoft company is not interested in abuse of its trademarks.

Re:I forward all WinXP spams to MS

[dreamchaser]

I feel very sad for you that you consider MS 'Your enemy'. I don't like them either, but I don't attribute them that much power. They aren't an enemy; they are a company out to make money. By calling them the enemy you ascribe malice to them that is unwarranted. You also give them power over you by the same act.

Re:I forward all WinXP spams to MS

[Maestro4k]

I feel very sad for you that you consider MS 'Your enemy'. I don't like them either, but I don't attribute them that much power. They aren't an enemy; they are a company out to make money. By calling them the enemy you ascribe malice to them that is unwarranted. You also give them power over you by the same act.

• Exactly what would it take for you to consider their actions with malice? Perhaps an upheld conviction of abusing their OS monopoly to move into other areas and take out other companies illegally? How about their secret agreements with OEMs in the past that required one copy of Windows sold per CPU, whether the OS left the building on the PC or not? I could go on listing more, but at this point in time it's pointless to just say it's business as usual and without malice. The courts have found MS to have broken anti-trust law, and it was upheld on appeal. Companies don't go around breaking laws, then pulling the type of defense strategies MS did without malice. They do that when they did it intentionally.

• But frankly your argument's silly anyway. I consider MS my enemy. I consider the RIAA and MPAA member companies my enemy. I consider most of the BSA companies my enemy, and I consider the OPEC members to be enemies. Why? Their goal, even if they aren't breaking laws, is to make money at all costs. If that cost is my freedoms (RIAA/MPAA and the congresscritters they own), my quality of life, or what else, so be it, they don't care as long as they make money. They're in business to make money from me even if I fully wish to not pay them a damned cent. I don't willingly, but my tax dollars keep going to them (at the least to pay the damn congresscritters they've bought who represent the companies first and the real people last). I consider that enemy worthy, and worth fighting.

  Power over me? They already have power over you, me and all of us. Hell just look at the litany of bills presented, along with the ones that made it into law. You can't tell me things like the DMCA haven't already given them enormous power over each and every one of us. Companies keep proving they're willing to abuse it any way they see fit. Want to stifle research into security flaws? Already been done, will happen again. Want to try and make sure no one can sell generic parts for your equipment? Already being done, look at the printer manufacturers.

  Sorry, but I don't have to do a damned thing for them to have power over me. They already do, and that's another part of why I consider them my enemies. If you don/t, well congrats on enjoying all those laws and restrictions they've placed on you. I'll be fighting them tooth and nail for the existing ones and future ones while you enjoy having your rights and freedoms removed. Personally I want mine back.

Vested interest?

[HardsetHead]

I suppose since no-one yet has made this crack...

I wonder if Microsoft has an ulterior motive in this whole crackdown.

Thank you. I'm here all week.

Trademark dilution?

[Tackhead]

I remember the first time I started seeing Viagra (and other prescription drug) spam. It was long enough ago that I figured the pharma companies would want to crack down on it.

Up until that point, I'd been getting spams for "pharmaceutical" (read: "quackery) products, like the usual "herbal penis pills", "natural apricot pits cancer cure!", "b00st your immune system", "legal pot substitute", and so on.

If I'd never heard of Viagra before, I'd have lumped it in along with phen-phen, ephedra, and laetrile as the quack medicines I'd historically been getting spams for: that is, substances of questionable efficacy, safety, and/or legality.

Quickly now, (off the top of your head, without googling and without being a pharmacist), which of the following - Effexor, Paxil, Viagra, Cialis, Phenteramine, Valium, Xanax, Soma, Lipitor, Zyban, Zantrex, Xenical, Meridia and Fioricet - are "real" medicines (that is, which have been approved by FDA for the treatment of medical conditions), and which are fake/quack/banned?

If you get even one false-positive (that is, a "real" drug that a reasonable person dismiss es as "quacky" due to its prevalence in spam), I'd say the manufacturer of that drug has a prima facie case for trademark dilution against every spammer who spammed for it.

Spam in general

[mszeto]

Since I had moderator points, I wanted to read all the crap that gets posted and see if there was anything that needed to be modded up. I was very dissapointed to hardly see *anything* relevant to the topic other than lame jokes.

I think that this will be good for users. Both companies have something to gain by there being less spam, and thus it will help both companies bottom lines to get rid of it.

What I hope they *don't* do (since both companies are large) is throw money at the problem and hope it gets fixed.

I think this is a good day for the internet in general!

Re:Why not go after the users?

[ThomasFlip]

Middle aged men who need pills to induce raging hard ons have enough problems as it is.

Re:Shouldn't the headline really read:

[MightyMartian]

"Pfizer and Microsoft rise to the challenge."

"Pfizer and Microsoft erect barriers to Viagra spam."

"Pfizer and Microsoft have the balls to go after Viagra spammers."