At the time of filing the lawsuit, in December 2003, Richter was
known to be one of the world's biggest spammers. The New York
Attorney General joined Microsoft in taking the action.
Richter said yesterday he had changed his emailing practices in
part because Microsoft and the New York Attorney General sued him
in December 2003. He said: “I am committed to sending e-mail only
to those who have requested it and to complying fully with all
federal and state anti-spam laws.”
In July 2005, Richter was removed from the Register of Known
Spam Operators maintained by the Spamhaus Project, a leading
anti-spam and consumer advocacy organisation.
In its lawsuit, Microsoft contended that Mr. Richter and his
companies violated Washington and federal law by sending email, and
helping others send email that contained internet domain names and
IP addresses
registered using pseudonyms and aliases from around the world; that
contained subject lines such as “fwd: we have to talk”, “make sure
you do this”, “re: your home loan” and “Your Federal Stafford
Loan”; and that contained forged sender names, false subject lines,
fake server names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender addresses
and obscured transmission paths, some of which was sent through
compromised Internet Protocol addresses in 35 countries spanning
six continents.
Richter and his company have denied all of these allegations.
But to ensure future compliance with all federal and state
anti-spam laws, and to ensure that emails only go to those who
confirm they are willing to receive them, they have agreed to
submit to three years of oversight.
