Fwd: Re: In re: Spam and Gate Crashing

From: <ArborLaw[_at_]aol.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 16:34:13 -0400

Paul Heald wrote, regarding spam:
>
> What legal remedies are available against a telemarketing
> firm who calls you with an offer to subscribe to magazines you
> don't want or against the police benevolent association for
> soliciting a donation to the policeman's ball or against
> somebody who butts into a private conversation at a party? None
> that I know of.

[...]
> but an enterprising Bulldog fan flies overhead trailing a banner
> advertising some product. No cause of action would lie against
> the pilot. To me, listservs look more like stadiums than
> private conversations.

Apart from the waste of my time, the only damage I see coming (in a legal sense) from spam is that I might have to pay for it, if I am on a pay-by-the-message system. In that case, it is more like a collect call for advertising, rather than straightforward telephone solicitation--or, like junk fax, because the message is consuming my supplies. (We have a law in Michigan against junk fax). And to the contrary, there are some federal and state restrictions on using the telephone to contact consumers in their homes, whether the caller already has a relationship (collecting a debt) or is making a cold call for sales reasons.

Carol Shepherd
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 Carol Ruth Shepherd                            arborlaw[_at_]aol.com
 business and intellectual property law         313.668.4646.tel

 320 S Main, Box 8403, Ann Arbor MI 48107-8403 313.663.9361.fax -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

---

> Forwarded message:
> From: HEALD[_at_]JD.LAWSCH.UGA.EDU (Paul Heald)
> Sender: owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org
> Reply-to: cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org
> To: cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org (Multiple recipients of list)
> Date: 95-10-19 20:53:02 EDT
>
>
> > The identity of the spammer is known.
> >
> > What legal remedies, sounding in copyright or elsewhere, do
> > the system administrator or list owner have available?
> >
> > Assuming that the "spammer" is instructed to cease and desist
> > and yet persists what course of action would you recommend?
>
> What legal remedies are available against a telemarketing firm
> who calls you with an offer to subscribe to magazines you don't want
> or against the police benevolent association for soliciting a
> donation to the policeman's ball or against somebody who butts into
> a private conversation at a party? None that I know of.
>
> Maybe if we analogized a spammer to an unauthorized tapper of
> phone lines, which is illegal, you'd have some luck. "Hacking" into
> confidential files is illegal also. Maybe that's the right analogy.
> But I doubt it. These listserv's just aren't private enough.
>
> Imagine your evil genius, Steve Spurrier, banning all advertising
> at "The Swamp." The stadium becomes free of commercial influence,
> but an enterprising Bulldog fan flies overhead trailing a banner
> advertising some product. No cause of action would lie against the
> pilot. To me, listservs look more like stadiums than private
> conversations.
>
> Paul J. Heald
> University of Georgia
> <heald[_at_]jd.lawsch.uga.edu>
Received on Mon Oct 23 1995 - 20:38:23 GMT