SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2752
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 55th Legislature 1998 Regular Session
By House Committee on Energy & Utilities (originally sponsored by
Representatives Bush, Crouse, Gardner, Cairnes, Dyer, Mulliken, Morris,
Linville, Reams, Romero, Smith, McDonald, Ogden, Dickerson, Butler,
O'Brien, Ballasiotes, Talcott and Appelwick; by request of Attorney
General)
Read first time 02/03/98. Referred to Committee on .
AN ACT Relating to electronic mail; adding a new chapter to Title
19 RCW; and prescribing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the volume
of unsolicited commercial electronic mail has grown exponentially in
the past year as individuals and organizations have discovered that
they are able to send electronic advertisements to hundreds of
thousands or millions of internet users at virtually no cost.
Unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages constitute the
majority of unsolicited electronic mail. Unsolicited commercial
electronic mail messages often impose an out-of-pocket monetary cost on
recipients who cannot refuse such messages and incur incremental fees
for time spent accessing and reviewing each message.
To the recipient, unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages
are often indistinguishable from other electronic mail messages. The
unsolicited commercial messages thus diminish the utility of electronic
mail service because users must wade through unwanted advertisements to
obtain those messages they wish to receive.
Advertisers may reach electronic mail users by less intrusive
means, means which do not impose the cost of unwanted advertisements on
recipients and do not interfere with recipients' ability to use
electronic mail service. Advertisers may also continue to use
electronic mail as a low-cost method of reaching a wide audience, if
their mailings are solicited.
Unsolicited commercial electronic mail sent in bulk often imposes
significant monetary costs on interactive computer services,
businesses, and educational and nonprofit institutes because they must
divert a significant portion of their limited computing resources to
processing and storing those messages and to responding to ensuing
complaints by recipients. Unsolicited commercial electronic mail is
increasingly diminishing the quality of service provided to customers
of interactive computer services and is harming the interactive
computer services themselves.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 2. The definitions in this section apply
throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Electronic mail address" means a destination, commonly
expressed as a string of characters, to which electronic mail may be
sent or delivered.
(2) "Initiate the transmission" refers to the action by the
original sender of an electronic mail message, not to the action by any
intervening interactive computer service that may handle or retransmit
the message.
(3) "Interactive computer service" means any information service,
system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer
access by multiple users to a computer server, including specifically
a service or system that provides access to the internet and such
systems operated or services offered by libraries or educational
institutions.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 3. (1) No person, corporation,
partnership, or association may initiate the transmission of an
unsolicited commercial electronic mail message from a computer located
in Washington or to an electronic mail address that the sender knows,
or has reason to know, is held by a Washington resident, to promote
real property, goods, or services for purchase or lease by the
recipient.
(2) For purposes of this section, a person, corporation,
partnership, or association knows that the intended recipient of an
unsolicited commercial electronic mail message is a Washington resident
if that information is available, upon request, from the registrant of
the internet domain name contained in the recipient's electronic mail
address.
(3) This section does not apply to:
(a) A commercial electronic mail message intended to be delivered
exclusively to a person who has an existing business or personal
relationship with the sender;
(b) A commercial electronic mail message sent for the purpose of
collecting an existing obligation; or
(c) A commercial electronic mail message sent with the consent of
all intended recipients. It is presumed that a person who either
requests information or contacts a sender to inquire about real
property, goods, or services has consented to the receipt of commercial
electronic mail messages from that sender for a twelve-month period.
However, if a person with whom the sender has an existing business or
personal relationship or a person who has consented to the receipt of
commercial electronic mail messages provides to the sender written or
electronic notice at any time that the person does not wish to receive
further electronic mail messages from that sender, the sender shall not
send the person any further commercial electronic mail messages.
(4) A person may not initiate a commercial electronic mail message
under the provisions of subsection (3) of this section if the person
knows or reasonably should know that any of the recipients is a
governmental entity, unless that entity has consented to the receipt of
the electronic mail message.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 4. (1) If a person, corporation,
partnership, or association initiates the transmission of a commercial
electronic mail message from a computer located in Washington or to a
Washington resident's electronic mail address to promote real property,
goods, or services for purchase or lease by the recipient, under
section 3(3) of this act, that person or entity shall cause the
following information to appear in each commercial electronic mail
message transmitted:
(a) The term "advertisement"; and
(b) The legal name, mailing address, true electronic mail address,
physical address, and telephone number, including area code, of the
person, corporation, partnership, or association initiating
transmission of the message and the date and time the message was sent.
(2) The information specified in subsection (1)(a) of this section
must appear as the first word on the subject line of the commercial
electronic mail message, without any prior text or symbol.
(3) The information specified in subsection (1)(b) of this section
must appear prominently in the body of the message.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 5. The unsolicited transmission of
commercial electronic mail messages promoting real property, goods, or
services for purchase or lease by the recipient in violation of this
chapter is a matter affecting the public interest for the purpose of
applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW. The
transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages in
violation of this chapter is not reasonable in relation to the
development and preservation of business. A violation of this chapter
is an unfair or deceptive act in trade or commerce for the purpose of
applying the consumer protection act, chapter 19.86 RCW.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 6. (1) Damages to the recipient of an
unsolicited commercial electronic mail message sent in violation of
this chapter are five hundred dollars, or actual damages, whichever is
greater.
(2) Damages to an interactive computer service resulting from a
violation of this chapter are one thousand dollars, or actual damages,
whichever is greater.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 7. (1) An interactive computer service
may, upon its own initiative, block the receipt or transmission through
its service of any electronic mail which it reasonably believes is, or
will be, sent in violation of this chapter.
(2) No interactive computer service may be held liable for any
action voluntarily taken in good faith to block the receipt or
transmission through its service of any electronic mail which it
reasonably believes is, or will be, sent in violation of this chapter.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 8. Sections 1 through 7 of this act
constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.
