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

[<beeline AT mindspring.com>]

As a lawyer's daughter, I believe that any citizen can indeed sue in a US
court as long as there's no *current* law specifically protecting the
to-be-sued entity (the defendant). Winning such a suit would be another
matter, but the first question would be the identity of the defendant.



As the plaintiff, I would have to prove an injury, either real or monetary. As
a result of this spamming activity, I'm sure that my primary e-mail address
(which I've had for many years and used as a part of my professional personna)
is now blacklisted or filtered by one or more persons. If I could show that I
could have done business with any of those people or otherwise have a reason
to exchange e-mails with them that could have benefited one or both of us,
then that would form a base for a complaint. I think. Or, say this trick
results in more "returned unknown" e-mails than my allocated space and an
important message gets bounced. Again, if I can prove injury, I have the basis
for a suit -- I would just need to find the perpetrator.



(Of course, if this is a virus I can't very well sue a buddy or professional
contact for failing to maintain a good virus checker... could I? Perhaps.
Would I? Probably not. Would someone else? Sooner or later, if it is possible
to find a defendant, a cause, and an affordable lawyer, someone will sue.
Guaranteed. This is so basic a thing that I doubt that the CAN-SPAM's
prohibition is both complete and constitutional. Of course, spammers may enjoy
several years of temporary amnesty as some really angry plaintiff with a good
deal of dough or a very special attorney works his/her complaint through the
system.)



It's probably academic anyway -- I doubt that I'll come up with the scratch or
the lawyer to try to track down and nail anyone. I'm cheering for whoever does
decide to take 'em on, though....



"B"





On Thu, 20 Jun 2002 11:12:01 -0400 "Michael D. Thomas"
<mdthomas AT mindspring.com> wrote:



>

> Can I sue someone? Can I have someone arrested for stealing my online

identity? Should I write my Congresscritters?

>



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.















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