MSN's spam filter is blocking too much, customers complain

SeattlePI | at | by Mike

So David Nelson decided to upgrade his company's Web site, switching to a high-speed service and MSN 8 -- Microsoft's new technology, touted as a guardian against spam and porn. It was Nelson's bid to bring his fledgling Westminster, Colo., company, Assembly Source, into the new age of Internet commerce.

But Wednesday, while he was trying to make the switch from dial-up, Microsoft refused to register his e-mail address -- assemblysource@msn.com -- because, he was told, the name begins with "ass." Assembly Source, which sells industrial manufacturing equipment, was blacklisted and automatically booted from Microsoft's system.