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Microsoft Sues 117 Phishers
An anonymous reader writes "Earlier this week Microsoft filed 117 John Doe cases today to learn the identity of scam artists who have been targeting its Hotmail and MSN customers in phishing scams, according to a Washington Post story. This is the same tactic the music and motion picture industries have used to mixed success against file-swappers, except in this case the ISPs themselves are some of the biggest targets of phishing scams. The story says the tactic has already worked once for Microsoft; in a case last year where ISP subpoenas led to a kid in Iowa who was caught phishing MSN users from his grandpa's dial-up account. The 21-year-old was ordered to pay Microsoft $3 million, but I doubt his job at Blockbuster is going to make a dent in that debt."
Microsoft always did make money from other peoples work, this time its just phishers instead of sofware companies but the results are the same, rich lawyers, income streams up, and customers are still without their money.
You're correct, it is irrelevant, but if it turns out that file sharing increases total CD sales (and some studies have shown that it does) then sueing file swappers is just plain stupid. Microsoft (who has more money in the bank than the music industry grosses as a whole in 5 years and who grosses 5x what the entire music industry grosses in a year) built their empire by encouraging pirating of their software. Many bands have increased their CD sales by allowing music trading (Grateful Dead, hello?). The Grateful Dead also are one of the most successful bands in history measured by CD or concert sales. But I guess ignorate business strategy is okay as long a congress passes laws to prop it up. So, how is that job a the RIAA working out for you?
"Those that start by burning books, will end by burning men."
Email phishing is a small part of the problem that Microsoft has spent the last 15 years creating: the average user is totally ignorant of how to use a computer.
Windows goes out of its way to protect itself from the user, and its architecture is so full of holes that it then exposes that user to spam, viruses, phishing, identity theft, etc. Knowledge is power, and Joe User has no power over their computer, because Microsoft forgoes useful documentation, overwhelming users with the perceived need for functionality (email, documents, media) instead of teaching users how to use that functionality responsibly. Microsoft maintains the power by keeping users in the dark.
If p2p authors can be held accountable for how their software is used, then MS should be held responsible for allowing virii to be assembled via drag-n-drop in Visual Studio.