The entire industry is beginning to realize that Microsoft is truly comitted to standing against those forces (people and companies) that would seek to destroy the usefulness of the Internet. This morning, I woke up and saw a Slashdot article extolling the consistent efforts of Microsoft in the fight against spammers and phishers. And this article comes just a couple of days after a ZDNet article published last week. While I will always check sources when I see an article about Microsoft’s largesse, I will also loudly proclaim goodness when it is obvious. And Microsoft’s efforts have demonstrated “goodness” in this matter. After over a year (and over 200 lawsuits), I am pleased to say that the seeds planted with the Trustworthy Computing initiative are finally starting to bear some fruit.
But I really like David Berlind’s comments. In his “Between the Lines” column, he notes:
“Well, it’s not enough that Microsoft (and others) are suing spammers and phishers and driving them into bankruptcy. The lawsuits won’t have their intended affect unless the word gets out that Microsoft is on the hunt and that Kornblum has a message. What’s that message? Kornblum made it clear saying: “We’re telling phishers and spammers that we will not tolerate their conduct on our systems and that we’ll do everything we can to identify, target, and pursue them.”
David makes it clear that every Internet citizen must warn the spammers and phishers that they are being watched and might be prosecuted.
What is even more interesting is the reaction of the /. community to this article. There is the prdictable rant that Microsoft is using lawsuits rather than improving their software. Of course, such rants are meaningless (and wrong). But the majority of the comments are laudatory of Microsoft’s efforts. When /. can laud Microsoft, there is some kind of a planetary harmonic convergence underway. And all of the planets are aligning against the spammers and phishers. It’s about time!
-CyclingRoo-