Legal Question in Technology Law in Rhode Island

impersonation/harrassment

Someone has opened up a yahoo email account in my name and has been sending me and other people messages from it. I have contacted Yahoo (many times) and believe that they have finally closed the account. What recourse do I have legally for proving who did this and how should I go about it?


Asked on 3/11/02, 4:58 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Bruce Burdick Burdick Law Firm

Re: impersonation/harrassment

I would suggest that a better approach is to try to correct the problem and undo the problem rather than try to find and punish the perpetrator. That is, I suggest you send an email to your entire email address book indicating "Someone has been spoofing with my name from email address [whatever email address was used]. My only legitimate email addresseses are: [your actual email address].

You will likely renew old contacts and do more good by taking the corrective approach.

If you nevertheless are determined to spend time finding the perpetrator, have people send you the spoof emails complete with headers and go to an investigator skilled in electronic investigations. It will not be cheap to investigate since the real email addresses are undoubtedly hidden and yahoo does not generally reveal the identities of its subscribers except by court order.

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Answered on 3/11/02, 11:10 am


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