In the spirit of the last post, let me turn our laser-like focus on people who should know better. After all, you don’t really expect a web analytics expert to really understand something like CAN-SPAM since it doesn’t really affect them.

On the other hand, you probably do expect to see someone tasked with enforcing CAN-SPAM to understand something basic like, say, who can sue under that statute. Right?

Well, you’re being optimistic today, aren’t you? This story by WRAL will tell you if you were right. Here’s the quote from South Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper:

Mr. Cooper, what crime, if any, is being committed by people who daily send spam e-mail, and what recourse do private citizens have? – Tim Wade, Angier

[...]

There is a federal law against spam which federal prosecutors have used against some notorious spammers. That law, the CAN SPAM Act, also gives individuals a private right of action against spammers in federal court.

Sorry, Mr. Attorney General, CAN-SPAM doesn’t work like that. Section #7 of the Act provides the list of people who can bring an action under the statute. Strangely, individual consumers are absent from that list.