The Volokh Conspiracy

Why not? The original commercial spammers were lawyers.

Avi wrote:

Why not? The original commercial spammers were lawyers.

Yes, it is poetic.

But from a practical point of view there are some major distinctions. Canter &Siegel spammed usenet, a very different act from sending tons of unsolicited commercial email (UCE). In 1994 there were no laws regulating spamming usenet. Now there are many state and federal laws regulating UCE.

Moreover, according to TFA,

... his subject line was misleading. The e-mail had nothing to do with a "Wrongful Death Case." Rather, it was a commerical solicitation. Likely, Mr. Sheehan wanted to trick his e-mail's receipients into thinking a potential client, rather than a spammer, was e-mailing him.

So, from a practical point of view how much sense does this apparent business plan make?

1. Send UCE with characteristics that may permit statutory civil remedies for recipients in many states despite federal CAN-SPAM act general preemption.

2. Send the UCE to lots of lawyers or lawyer website visitors in many different states.

3. ????

4. Profit!!!???

That's why not.