Hotmail subscribers have a new problem to contend with: an e-mail janitor. In Microsoft’s popular free e-mail service, messages are being swept out and bounced back to senders as the site urges members to upgrade to a premium version that costs $19.95 a year, according to subscribers. One Hotmail user, Arianna, said she signed on to her e-mail account last week to find the system had emptied out her in-box—including important messages about her upcoming wedding — but left her junk-mail folder full. “It definitely felt like strong-arming, like ‘See what can happen if you don’t pay us,’” said Arianna, a community college professor who lives in San Francisco.
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