Is a spoofed email identity theft?

[wenwilder]

Last Christmas Eve, a handful of Great Diamond Island residents received an e-mail from their neighbor, Ron Fitch, with an unflattering cartoon attached of Fitch, his wife, Sandra, and their dead St. Bernard.

It was clearly an attempt at humor, but Fitch didn't think it was funny. What's more, he never sent the e-mail.

In five months since, Fitch has struggled with the still murky legal standards governing e-mail, trying to find the identity of the person who set up an account in his name and sent the offensive message.

Still unresolved, the case is headed for Maine's highest court as the defendant, known in court papers as John Doe, is fighting to remain anonymous.

The case raises questions about the limits of privacy for people who use electronic communications, and the rights of others to protect their identities. It is a largely unexplored area of the law, and a case like this one has never gone this far in a Maine court.

"There aren't many federal laws that would apply to this situation," said Rita Heimes, director of the Technology Law Center at the University of Maine School of Law.

"There are lots of laws that enable the government to find criminals," she said. "But when you start talking about privacy and dignity, the government has legislated very little."

Read the full story here.