I want to find an attorney who has experience - presumably successful!
- in getting Hotmail email accounts reactivated after they have been
(unfairly) closed by Microsoft, in this case for (allegedly) spamming.
Emails and snail mail letters have been to no avail, and I believe
there is a 120 day clock running before all info associated with my
account is deleted. I am frustrated by the "guilty with no chance to
prove innocence" approach that has cost me access to the Contact
lists, stored emails, and stored files associated with this non-free
Hotmail Plus account. Can you identify experienced lawyers who I can
hire to represent me?

---

Request for Question Clarification by siliconsamurai-ga on 02 Mar 2005 06:40 PST

The agreements and anti-spam policy are all posted online and incredibly complex.

If you would accept an analysis of why you should save your money and
time as an answer, let me know and I will provide a detailed analysis.

BTW, forget small claims court, by using the site you have agreed to
sue only in Washington courts.

---

Clarification of Question by whynotnow-ga on 02 Mar 2005 08:57 PST

I used the account in question without a problem for over 8 years, and
paid the fee for Hotmail Plus to allow for more email archiving space.
Although I would indeed like the account reactivated, are you saying
that it would be equally impossible to use legal means to get to the
point where I would be allowed to download the data in the account,
i.e. the email addresses in the Contacts list and stored emails/files?

---

Request for Question Clarification by siliconsamurai-ga on 02 Mar 2005 09:59 PST

Being a long time customer probably has no legal affect but it does
raise an interesting possibility now that I understand your problem
better.

Check out http://www.wagged.com/.

They are the PR firm for Microsoft and I bet if you contacted them you
might find a way to retrieve your information. You should also try
contacting Microsoft by phone before you turn to a lawyer. Let me know
if you can't find the number and I will post it here for free.

My reading of the Microsoft agreements make it appear that Microsoft
is disclaiming responsibility for almost everything. It is possible to
defeat that claim but it would take a very long time because it would
affect every aspect of their business.

I still think the lawyer is a lost cause but PR pressure could do what
no amount of legal wrangling can do. You should also join Microsoft
forums and complain there.

If some researcher can locate such a lawyer, perhaps one who has been
burned by Microsoft, then by all means pursue that avenue but on a
practical basis I suspect the data would be gone by the time you got
anywhere legally.

I posted this as a RQC to make certain you saw it. Please remember, we
don't give legal advice and I am only looking at this from a pragmatic
viewpoint.

---

Clarification of Question by whynotnow-ga on 02 Mar 2005 11:41 PST

Pragmatic is the way to be. Although I'm frustrated by their inability
so far to correct my particular problem, I sympathize in general with
Microsoft's efforts to police Hotmail accounts. If there's a # (other
than the Tech Support # given to Hotmail Plus users, which hasn't
helped me so far, even when I've asked to get a 'higher level' of
support) which you feel would be useful, please post it as a comment.
Although I'll try all other means too, with regard to this Google
question I'm still seeking names of qualified lawyers to potentially
pursue legal means of recovering this information and/or reactivating
the account if these other means fail.

Try a small claims court if they exist where you are. The court will
forward them a notice of the action to them. i.e. Sue them yourself.

I have not read the Hotmail terms and conditions that you agreed to
when you signed up, but I highly suspect that they say something along
the lines of "Microsoft reserves the right to terminate an account for
any reason at any time." This is pretty standard type of statement for
this kind of service. If this is the case, you will have no way of
succeeding in any court, nor will a lawyer be interested in your case.
 If this was a paid account, your only recourse may be a refund of
money paid, not reinstatement of the account.

Don't waste your time or money. I seriously doubt any lawyer would
tackle this unless you are willing to simply throw money at them
(6-figures minimum).

Sir William's father is a lawyer and you can bet that the company has
the best legal minds in the world backing up their incredibly complex
contracts.

Now that I understand your problem better, what you really need is the
information, not necessarily your account reinstated? If so, did you
use Outlook or Outlook Express?

Your information may be on your computer or on backups even if you
didn't specifically backup your address book.

Of course if your actual address is important to your business then
this won't help but there are services which allow redirection of
emails to another address.

I am only offering these suggestions in case you can't locate a lawyer
to handle the case.

No, didn't use Outlook, and most info isn't on computer.
I asked MSN if they would redirect from the Hotmail Plus account, and
got a "No - closed is closed" response.
All the redirecting services I know of redirect from an address you
create with them to another one, rather than from an existing
(Hotmail, in this case) address to some other address. Can't imagine
how this could work otherwise, since it would open the door to
pranksters merrily misdirecting mail, wouldn't it?

I think it's pretty clear.
http://privacy.msn.com/tou/?ST=1&pgmarket=en-us&RU=http%3a%2f%2fjoin.msn.com%2f%3fpage%3dmisc%2fspecialoffers%26pgmarket%3den-us

Of course, I'll bet you probably didn't read this before you signed up
(nobody does), but it's their 'get out of jail for free' card.

It doesn't appear you're in luck.

"12. TERMINATION; ACCESS RESTRICTION 
Microsoft may terminate this Agreement, or terminate or suspend your
access to the MSN Web Sites at any time, with or without cause, with
or without notice. Upon such termination or suspension, your right to
use the MSN Web Sites will immediately cease. UPON SUCH TERMINATION OR
SUSPENSION, ANY INFORMATION YOU HAVE STORED ON THE MSN WEB SITES MAY
NOT BE RETRIEVED LATER. "

Well I didn't even review the terms and I was pretty close with my
assumption that they had a statement like "Microsoft reserves the
right to terminate an account for any reason at any time." compared to
what respree-ga actually found "Microsoft may terminate this
Agreement, or terminate or suspend your
access to the MSN Web Sites at any time, with or without cause, with
or without notice."
A company like Microsoft is not going to leave themselves exposed in
any way. Unfortunately for you, it looks like you have no real
recourse. I hope you are able to manage.