Microsoft Corp. today praised Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna for his strong action to help protect consumers from deceptive software. With the help of technical information and analysis from Microsoft, the attorney general’s office filed the state’s first legal action under the Washington Computer Spyware Act, which was enacted last year. Microsoft today also announced it has filed its own lawsuit alleging violation of the same law.

McKenna’s 16-count lawsuit alleges that Secure Computer LLC in New York state, company president Paul E. Burke and others associated with the company used deceptive spam, misleading advertising and misleading computer scan results to frighten users into purchasing its Spyware Cleaner product.

“We applaud Attorney General McKenna for his strong and sustained leadership in helping protect consumers on the Internet,” said Nancy Anderson, deputy general counsel for Microsoft. “Attorney General McKenna led the effort in Washington to pass one of the nation’s first anti-spyware laws. Now he is using that law to help protect consumers.”

The Washington Computer Spyware Act prohibits the installation of computer software that prevents the reasonable efforts of the owner or operator to block the installation, and prohibits intentional misrepresentation of the extent to which such software is required for security or privacy. Software that collects and transmits information or changes settings on a computer without the owner’s permission is also outlawed.