Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["Michael D. Thomas" <mdthomas AT mindspring.com>]

>
> Can I sue someone? Can I have someone arrested for stealing my online
identity? Should I write my Congresscritters? (Actually, I'd rather get the
jerks thrown off of their ISP but whois doesn't recognize their site -- which
is teens.sexln.com (an actual working site, ugh).)
>

Thoughts of a non-lawyer....

If you could find who did it, I'm sure you could sue them for something under
existing laws. For instance, the core of the case in NY against monsterhut
(big spammer) is false representation and fraud, which aren't new-fangled
Internet offenses. I'm sure that laws that protect you from real world
impersonation by criminals would also protect you here, just as the laws of
libel have been applied to email discussions. If they claim, "simple mistake,"
you could argue negligence, and in the current anti-spam climate a judge may
agree. If it turns out that the site that is profiting from this impersonation
is based in an aggressive state, like NY, you may be able to enlist the state
AG's help, esp. if impersonation appears to be habitual.

All of the pending federal legislation prohibits the faking of headers, but
none of them, to my memory, really seem to consider the damage done to you,
the fakee. This is where CAN-SPAM's rule that prohibit individuals from suing
really bites. This bill, which is the most likely to pass in to law right now,
only allows your ISP and the Attorney General to sue, and you wouldn't get to
see any of the damages.

In addition to determining the home of the advertised site, another thing you
could definitely do is determine if the last hops are open relays and try to
get them shut down if they are.