Matt Hitchcock couldn't believe his ears when he was banned from setting up an e-mail account because his name contains a "prohibited word".
The systems administrator from Basingstoke was told by Microsoft's e-mail provider Hotmail: "Your last name contains a word that is reserved or prohibited. Please use a different name."
Said Matt (21): "I just wanted a simple e-mail address, so I can easily be contacted. I find it ironic that such discrimination comes from a company owned by Willy Gates."
A Microsoft spokesman explained: "Hotmail has rules and regulations. On this rare occasion, it seems the software has refused to register the name."
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