The mighty Microsoft is to erect a sterling defence of its MSN site against the peddlers of Viagra spam. It has embraced the drug’s creator, Pfizer, in a joint action to make 17 lawsuits against spammers stand up in court. The suits, filed in New York and Washington state, are targeted at spammers who are faking it by flogging cheaper "generic" versions of the impotence drug. Phoney Viagra ads now account for one in four spam messages. Spinsters for the Lair of the Vole in Redmond said the suits were the results of a long seven month-long hard probing into a number of websites advertising Viagra. According to the Graniad, here, the investigation apparently revealed a sophisticated global operation, with orders received in New York, sent Canadian call centres and fulfilled from manufacturing plants in India with illegal copies. Named in the suits are CanadianPharmacy and E-Phamarcy Direct, and 10 other domain names using the Viagra brand. Microsoft is also pressing for action against three other spammers who advertise online pharmacies under various names, including Discount RX, Virtual RX, and EzyDrugStore.com. The Inq
