Online Services Sue Mortgage Spammers

Several lawsuits have been filed against mass e-mail senders -- who promote products that include mortgage loans -- by four of the major online services, alleging violations of CAN-SPAM, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003.The plaintiffs are America Online Inc., EarthLink Inc., Microsoft Corp. (the parent company of MSN), and Yahoo Inc. The AOL complaint against "John Does 1 through 40" cites the transmission of messages to AOL members that allegedly sell a variety of products, including mortgages. The EarthLink complaint groups together John Does 26 through 35 as the "Mortgage Lead Spammers." The Yahoo complaint against a group it calls the "Head Operation," after defendants Eric Head, Matthew Head, and Barry Head, alleges that the group sent 94 million e-mail messages to Yahoo Mail users. The spam included mortgage solicitations.