Viagra Spam Under Attack

Microsoft and Pfizer have joined forces to try to eliminate much of that Viagra spam e-mail that clutters our mailboxes.

Pfizer said two websites named in the suit sold "potentially dangerous medications" unapproved by regulators.

The websites involved are CanadianPharmacy and E-Pharmacy Direct.

In addition, Microsoft has filed three suits against web spammers who promote online drug stores, such as Discount RX, Virtual RX and EzeDrugStore.com.

"Together, these pharmacy spam rings have allegedly sent hundreds of millions of e-mail messages to Microsoft's MSN Hotmail customers within the past year alone," the joint statement said.

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Computers in New York received online orders which were then sent to a call centre based in Canada before being processed in India, the lawsuit claims.

The pills were then shipped from India to the US and delivered by an air freight company based in the US.

As BrianF, who sent this to me, says, "This is part of the reason the FDA is reluctant to OK reimportation of drugs from Canada via internet pharmacies. Just because a site appears to be in Canada doesn't mean the drugs are coming from Canada."

Why is Microsoft involved in these suits? What risks does Microsoft face from these arrangements?