Microsoft slices spam

To cut down on junk e-mail, Microsoft is capping the number of e-mails that users of its free Hotmail service can send each day.

By limiting to 100 the number of messages that could be sent in a 24 hour period, Microsoft’s MSN division hopes to stop people from using its service to send the unsolicited messages, known as spam.

“MSN is strongly committed to helping stop the widespread problem of spam and this change is one way we are preventing spammers from using Hotmail as a vehicle to send the unwanted e-mails,” said Lisa Gurry, MSN lead product manager.

Microsoft said it viewed the limit as a reasonable cap that would affect less than 1% of its active subscriber base of 110 million. The company would not disclose its previous cap.

The limit took effect earlier this month. It does not apply MSN 8 subscribers or those who purchase extra storage on Hotmail.