Using a law which dates back almost 70 years, giant tech company Microsoft announced today that it will be charging forward in the industry's long battle against spam bots.
Spam bots are networks of computers and systems specifically set up to pump out an overflow of advertisements on the Internet. Users have been plagued with these ads, which many negatively perceives as "annoying" and "pointless."
Yesterday, the company said that an outdated statute will help them in finally striking the killing blow on these botnets. The Lanham Act will enable Microsoft and all of its subsidiaries to clutch and seize the servers where all the spam originates. With the law, companies can acquire search warrants to seize equipment included in a spam network.
Furthermore, since many of these botnets illegally uses the logo of Microsoft, the company may file counterfeiting charges against owners of these networks.
According to a study, the spam industry produces big revenues despite low success rates. Out of 35 million spam emails sent every month, research suggested that only 28 became sales. Despite the extremely low turnaround, the 28 converted sales translated into almost US$3.5 million in monthly earnings in the world's most "annoying" industry.
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