Don’t mess with Microsoft. That’s the message the company is sending by suing two men, accusing them of sending out millions of spam through a series of companies in violation of the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM). Microsoft joined Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in suing Ryan Samuel Pitylak, a student at the University of Texas, Austin, and codefendant Mark Trotter, of California in a lawsuit filed Friday in a federal court in Seattle, according to IFG News Service.Pitylak and Trotter are accused of setting up shell companies that sent tens of millions of illegal spam messages to Internet users over its network, according to court documents. The men allegedly set up a number of Nevada-based shell companies to distribute spam, according to the suit. Together, the companies made up the fourth largest illegal spam operation in the world, according to a statement by the Texas Attorney General. “We’re very excited by Attorney General Abbott’s action,” said Aaron Kornblum, internet safety enforcement attorney for Microsoft. “This set of defendants sent out tens of millions of illegal messages through our Hotmail (free Web-based email) system to our customers.”Kornblum said Microsoft worked with the Texas Attorney General’s office for almost one year on the case. The Texas Attorney General said in its suit that the two men violated CAN-SPAM by using misleading subject lines and not indicating that their e-mail messages were advertisements, IDG news Service said. Some messages also offered home refinancing services the defendants were not licensed to offer.Recipients were also tricked into giving away personal information with promises that information would be protected. The information collected was then sold to other companies, according to the Attorney General. Kornblum said Microsoft has teamed with state attorneys general three times to sue spammers, including actions in suits filed in New York and Washington. To fight spam, Microsoft is also developing antispam filters and is working on redesigning its e-mail authentication technology, Kornblum said. Technology Industry