When Spammers Use YOUR E-Mail Address? 17
AlphaOne asks: "Is there any legal recourse (in California or otherwise) for a spammer sending mail out with MY e-mail address as the forged 'from'?
I have received an (only one for now, thankfully) 'undeliverable' message for an e-mail I never sent. Upon closer investigation, it looks like a bounce from a much larger mailing for a porn site. To make matters worse, the message is JavaScript encoded and I had to spend about 30 minutes decoding the message just to figure out who the spammer could potentially be. I'm confident I know at least who was paying for the spamming, but I may not be able to directly track down the spammer him/herself (as is so often the case). Does anyone know of a precident in a case like this? Is it worth litigating if I get bombarded with bounces, hate-mail, removal requests, or anything else?" SPAM is one thing, but cowardly spammers who have to use someone else's address for their crap advertisements is something else. What can one do in this situation?
yes, there is a case (Score:1)
the case is well documented.
Sadly not worth pursuing (Score:1)
I read about the flowers.com case and several others, and brought them to the attention of a lawyer, who explained that I'd have a hard time proving actual monetary damages. After going through the details, it became clear that it would cost me time and money to go after someone who I probably would never collect anything from.
Some states do have laws that specifically make using someone else's e-mail address a crime - that could make it easier. In the end, it's probably not worth it for you either. But you're posting a request for legal advice on slashdot, so who knows.
Recourse, and precedent... (Score:3)
Here's a good URL to print out and hand to your lawyer:
http://www.isoc.org/whatsnew/parkerjudgement.ht
Other commentary from ZDNet:
http://www.zdnet.com/eweek/opinion/1201/01isigh
"The judgment is interesting not just for the monetary damages (which seem small to me), but for the reasoning used by the judge: "The defendant's unauthorized use of that address constitutes a common-law nuisance and trespass," wrote Travis County District Judge Suzanne Covington. She also found that the reputation of flowers.com would be permanently damaged if "the hated practice" wasn't stopped immediately."
Contact a Lawyer, and The Police (Score:4)
Civil suit is fastest, as the Police in some parts of the country are either "duh" or "we're understaffed." Jourisdiction is another one. Civil suits have a wonderful way of cutting across boundaries.
Yeah, you'll spend a coupla grand on a lawyer, but I'll pledge $100 for your lawyer fund, right now.
Two Rumplestilskins for the price of one? (Score:2)
I hate the idea already.
Re:Actually there are several tools you can use (Score:2)
nowhere.com is a real address. I'm not sure if they'd be happy with you using their domain in such a manner.
I recommend using a fake TLD instead of
Re:yes, there is a case (Score:1)
Go after their business license (Score:2)
Re:Contact a Lawyer, and The Police (Score:1)
Congratulations, you've been Joe'd (Score:3)
Welcome to the club. This type of attack is called a Joe Job [google.com] in geek speak. It's pretty common, especially if you've ever succeeded at getting a spammer booted off his provider. You should visit the SpamCop newsgroups [spamcop.net]; they are old hands at this and helped me with the same situation in mid-April.
My Joe was also a Javascript encoded porn ad -- it might have been the exact same spammer. Here's a clipping for comparison:
The decoder tool at NetDemon [netdemon.net] revealed that the spam was for lolital.com and visit-x.net. I contacted their hosting providers as well as wanadoo.fr (the open relay) but I don't think anything came of it.
On the bright side, not a single angry recipient wrote back to me to complain. I guess everyone really does delete spam on sight ... or maybe they happily clicked to see HardCore Teens. ;-(
Used to happen to somewhere.com all the time (Score:1)
The SpamCop newsgroups are good resources for this kind of thing. They also provide pointers for decoding JavaScript encoded HTML. My own site, SpamWatcher, will have a builtin JavaScript interpreter in its spam decoder shortly.
How about Libel / Slander? (Score:2)
Libel and Slander cases can have pretty hefty payouts... your "good name" and "reputation" are damaged, and are worth money.
Lawsuits are never something that you want to do, but being slandered by spammers is something that you should NOT let continue. If you DON'T do anything, it's worse.
MadCow.
would you mind posting ... (Score:1)
ONEPOINT
Spammer using your e-mail. (Score:3)
There is a lot of information on these types of subjects at: www.suespammers.org. The discussion list is full of shared information on such cases.
Better save your work (Score:1)
Actually there are several tools you can use (Score:1)
Re:Actually there are several tools you can use (Score:1)