Harris Interactive, a leading web-based market research company,
has announced it has reached an agreement with Microsoft to settle
a lawsuit brought against the software giant because e-mail from
Harris Interactive was prevented from reaching users of the MSN
Hotmail network, a Microsoft e-mail service, due to software that
blocked spam.
Microsoft used filtering programs from MAPS (Mail Abuse
Prevention System), a not-for-profit service, to prevent spam
(unsolicited commercial e-mail) reaching its 70 million Hotmail
users. The system blocked e-mail from Harris Interactive,
preventing them reaching the users for purposes of market
research.
Microsoft has now agreed to allow e-mail from Harris Interactive
to reach users of Hotmail and Harris Interactive has agreed to
dismiss the lawsuit against Microsoft, although Microsoft pointed
out that it still does not believe it had any liability to Harris
Interactive.
Harris Interactive dropped another lawsuit against AOL last
month, also concerning its exclusion from e-mail services. It said
that it was now "able to fully communicate with all of its
registered respondents who have AOL email addresses."
