The term "Cartooney" is derived from 'Cartoon Attorney' and is used for legal threats sent purely to scare the recipients.
A Cartooney contains threats of legal action, citing irrelevant or non-existent laws, and is often written by a person without any knowledge of law and without consulting any legal professional. Normally, the Cartooney sender is on the wrong side of the law to begin with.
Cartooney is sometimes spelled as "Cart00ney" to emphasize the comical nature of most Cartoonies. They are often sent anonymously, sent by fictitious lawyers or signed "Legal Department". Many promise to sue under invented laws such as the "Freedom Of Speech Law" or "International Email Law" and are usually written by spammers reacting to what they consider undeserved censure, being publicly identified or added to spam filter blocklists.
