Legal Question in Technology Law in California
Hacker and Spam Laws
Is it legally defensable to retailate electronically ( i.e.
directed denial of service packet broadcasts) against a
entity who repeated sends spam to my email server?
the situtation is: I have a small internet services firm.
we run a mail server for our clients. If one of my client's
users follows the proceedure to be removed from the
spammer's distribution list( offered in the body of the
spam message), they are sent exponentlly more spam.
This is the cirmustance surrounding our request. The
spammers are trespassing on our mail server, they
must connect to the server in order to deliver spam. We
won't want them there. Can this be considered criminal
tresspassing?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Hacker and Spam Laws
California has a law that allows companies such as yours to sue spammers for $50/email, up to a maximum of $25,000 per day. This is a strong law, but it has yet to be adequately tested. If you are interested in talking with me about how your company can sue to get the spammer to stop, please call me at (650) 798-2418.
I would not advise retaliation for a number of reasons. As just one example, you might find yourself on the receiving end of a lawsuit rather than the other way around.
Re: Hacker and Spam Laws
Retaliation of the type you describe is not legal. Denial of service attacks are criminal and there is no "but they really deserved it" exception to any criminal law.
There are laws which you can use to support a lawsuit against the spammers, but if the spammers don't have the money to pay a judgment then a lawsuit may not be much help.
Feel free to contact me directly if you want to discuss your options. I would need more detail from you to offer any more concrete guidance.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
