Washington ? The Justice Department said Thursday that only about 10 percent of the public comments it has received by e-mail about the Microsoft antitrust settlement were substantive, while others ranged from form letters to pornography.

The department said it received more than 30,000 messages. Under federal law, such a comment period was required before a federal judge decides whether the controversial settlement is in the public interest.

Overall, the department said it received about 7,500 comments from people in favor of the settlement reached by the federal government and nine states, while 15,000 opposed it. Another 7,000 comments were dismissed as opinion, like “I hate Microsoft.”

Under the law, the government has to publish the comments in the Federal Register which the department estimates will cost about $4 million and cover 10,000 pages. Given the volume of the comments received, Justice has asked the federal judge handling the case to allow it to publish them online and on CD-ROM.

The department has to respond to each comment a task it said it could finish by the end of the month.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is scheduled to review the settlement in March. Meanwhile, nine other states including Kansas still suing Microsoft are pursuing more stringent penalties.

Overall, only a tenth of the more than 30,000 messages were classified by the department as “containing a degree of detailed substance.”