Expert: Dan Pepper - 8/24/2008

Question
I was curious about E-Mail laws. I was posting a personal classified on "Craigslist" in the post is says "it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests" I also stated in my post, "any company or organization that sends responses to with a link to their site will be documented and will be considered harassment. thank you" I still get "fake" replys, with fake links. the links are said to go a personal homepage. but it redirects me to a dating service. isn't there any laws for this? or am I doomed to recieve these e-mails from companys, even after I stated that I don't want ads?  

Answer
To respond to the first part of your question, just because you characterize a communication as harassment, doesn't necessarily make it so.  The law is the law.

Regarding the spoofed emails, these may be violating the federal CAN-SPAM Act, and perhaps state laws as well, but unless you can track down the senders, it is extremely difficult to bring an action against them.

You can locate all of the applicable SPAM laws at http://www.spamlaws.com/us.shtml