13 One community remedy preferred by many users is to complain to the offender's service provider and publicly denounce the action on the Internet Blacklist . Another possibility for those with Eudora for the PC is to filter out unsolicited email. 14 Other free software claims to eliminate unwanted email. 15 Individuals have sued spammers in court and won. 16 Individual states specifically prohibit defamation, no matter what form it takes.
Defamation consists of false and unprivileged publication which results in economic damages.
Financial loss is not necessary where the statement implies that a person is a criminal or has an unpleasant disease, or which injures a person in respect to his other office, profession, or business. A judge in Texas issued an injunction to stop defamatory posting by an Internet user. 17 Hate messages sent by e-mail have also resulted in criminal penalties. In some cases, companies have asked the court system to identify the authors of anonymous defamatorymessages. Most such subpoenas go unchallenged.