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Using the argument that phishing is damaging Microsoft’s image, the company has started fighting phishing in court. A report at ARS Technica says that Microsoft has filed 129 lawsuits against phishers across Europe and the Middle East.

As most of the defendants in these suits are young, mostly teenagers, Microsoft has proved willing to settle for payments between 1,000 to 2,000 euros (and I bet they keep pretty close tabs on them thereafter). But a recent criminal suit involving phishing did send a Turkish man to prison for two and half years. Other criminal suits have been filed in Germany and France and Britain.

This represents a new front in the attack on phishing for Microsoft, which so far has mostly centered on improving the Internet Explorer phishing filter (which some have declared all but useless in stopping phishing). The first lawsuit against phishing was filed by the FTC in January of 2004 against a California teen. The teen was banished from sending spam for life and fined $3,500 Dollars.

Posted by pschooff in Microsoft • Phishing |Digg This|Add to del.icio.us

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