Microsoft starts suing cybersquatters

The Redmond, Wash., software giant said cybersquatters and typosquatters _ people who register Web addresses either with trademarked terms or with common misspellings in the hopes of luring Web surfers who mistype addresses into their browsers _ are now registering more than 2,000 domains each day targeting Microsoft.

The vast majority of the sites, which have addresses like"microsoftrebate.com,""xbox36com.com"and"msnfinance.com,"are bought by professional operations that place nothing on the pages but pay-per-click ads served by online-ad networks, Microsoft said. About a quarter of the sites use privacy services to disguise their identities.