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Warning : Hotmail users: Hotmail shuts down "spammers" who don't spam

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Moral: Never fight with anyone who know your hotmail id:


Hotmail.com shuts down Hotmail accounts shortly after receiving complaints about spam being sent from them, without checking if the user has actually sent spam, NRG Maariv has learned. Thus, malicious users can cause the shutting down of accounts, as an act of revenge or just for kicks.

In its haste to fight spam, Hotmail has foregone looking into abuse reports it gets from email users. In three instances documented by NRG Maariv, Hotmail's abuse team shut down Hotmail accounts less than 24 hours after receiving complaints about spam being sent from them, even though the spam mail clearly did not originate from those accounts.

In two of the instances, the spammers spoofed the sender's address so it looked like it was sent from a Hotmail account, while they were actually sent through an Israeli ISP. In both instances, the spoofed accounts were shut down.

The third instance was a test: NRG Maariv opened a new account with Hotmail and sent no email whatsoever from it. Using a different email, we filed a spam complaint, saying it came from the new Hotmail account. Attached were Internet headers from an old spam, where the sender's address was replaced with that of the new account.

Within less than 24 hours, we received a message saying the new account was shut down.

"My name is Claire, and from what I have read in your message, you are complaining about the unsolicited email you received from a Hotmail account", said the message written by Claire C. with MSN Hotmail Technical Support. "I have closed the account you reported in accordance with the Hotmail Terms of Use (TOU). It is a strict violation of the TOU for our members to send objectionable material of any kind or nature using our service".

Trying to log on to the Hotmail account, we found it closed. No explanation was provided, just a laconic message saying "Account Closed. Access Denied". No appeal procedure was mentioned. The account was shut down for good.

Hotmail's public relations representative, Waggener Edstrom, has yet to respond to the story.

Source: http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=8904
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
One of the reasons I wont be using free email providers anymore... oh wait... what about GMail, maybe that... ;)
 
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Hotmail sucks from all points of view compared to gmail
 
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Shutting without investigaion and without an option for the affected person to proove his innocence is bad and rude. :(
 
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gmail wont be as bad as hotmail...
 
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