Microsoft Sues 117 Phishers

An anonymous reader writes "Earlier this week Microsoft filed 117 John Doe cases today to learn the identity of scam artists who have been targeting its Hotmail and MSN customers in phishing scams, according to a Washington Post story. This is the same tactic the music and motion picture industries have used to mixed success against file-swappers, except in this case the ISPs themselves are some of the biggest targets of phishing scams. The story says the tactic has already worked once for Microsoft; in a case last year where ISP subpoenas led to a kid in Iowa who was caught phishing MSN users from his grandpa's dial-up account. The 21-year-old was ordered to pay Microsoft $3 million, but I doubt his job at Blockbuster is going to make a dent in that debt."

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Phishing != File trading

[sfcat]

Let's see here, in one case you are stealing actual money from the general public. In the other case, you are trading some copyrighted work that you already own. In addition, file trading isn't stealing, it is a violation of copyright law. Also, there is a reason to believe that file trading actually helps the artists by increasing the public's awareness of their music/art/whatever.

I can't believe that the slashdot editors greenlighted such a poorly worded post on the front page. At the very least, they should have edited the post before putting it on the front page. WTF, they should know the different between file trading and phishing.

Oh, they should string up the phishers by their thumbs. Good for MS (I don't believe I just wrote that, it really is April Fools Day)