Re: [PLUG] spoofing

[gabriel rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net>]

On Mon, Sep 30, 2002 at 09:54:33PM -0400, Arthur S. Alexion wrote:
> Sorry to all for quoting the entire thing, but this is incredibly 
> helpful.

Glad it helped. (I'm going to avoid quoting it yet again; I figure
we'll have archives again eventually... ahem, mct, bj?)

> Do you thing a threatening fax to Anna Lorry regarding 
> "identity theft" with a copy to the Attorney General Consumer 
> Protection Divisions of PA and VA might do the trick?

Hrm. Well, I think you'd have a hard time convincing a (reasonable)
judge that this *was* identity theft, for the reasons I've
mentioned. I mean, they've not come to particular material gain by
way of your identity. Sure, they spammed using your email address,
but if they gained anything it was through the contacts they
publicized, which were legitimate, in that message. They certainly
did not take your social security number, credit card number, or any
other way material harm *you*. But the legal system's pretty behind,
so you might have something.

You're far more likely to have something, though, if you stay
impeccably in the Right here. Neither threats nor unsolicited faxes
(even if they aren't of an commercial nature) strike me as an
appropriate response. Call politely, introduce yourself, inquire
about what business it is. It's intensely possible that NONE of the
individuals to whom my fifteen minutes' research pointed have
anything to do with the spammer who's stolen your email address. In
any case, calling up and demanding a confession is a sure way to get
hung up on...

And if they are your nemesis, they're liable to respond by finding
further ways to abuse you and your online identity. They've got
your email address, especially if you contact *them* that way now;
there is quite literally nothing stopping them from dropping that
address into every single web form on a porn web site they can
find, rendering that email address completely unuseable for you.
You have FAR more to lose in this endeavor than they.

I wouldn't contact the authorities without some kind of solid
evidence; none of what I gave you was that.

> I just want it to stop.

I don't blame you. But I'd advise you to avoid getting mad OR
getting even, at least until you have some real facts in hand.

-- 
gabriel rosenkoetter
gr@eclipsed.net

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