WA Wins First Case Against Deceptive Spammer

GPFCharlie writes "The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is running this article about the first victory by a US state against a spammer. Apparently the judge ruled that a civil trial was not even necessary, since the state had already proven their case. The law was upheld by the WA Supreme Court and an appeal was turned down by the US Supreme Court. Next phase: penalties. How about 5 million hand-written apology letters?"

Comments

Hooray regulations! Hooray anti-privacy!

[stratjakt]

"Right now it's a bunch of states making their own laws about how people in other states can do business," Crandall, his attorney, said. "It's a profoundly interesting case about whether the government can regulate business on the Internet, or at least regulate equally."

Hooray! Next stop, a government regulated internet! That cant possibly have any other effects beyond removal of unwanted e-mails.

"The law, which does not ban all unsolicited commercial e-mail, makes it illegal to send an e-mail to people in Washington that contains deceptive subject lines, uses a bogus return address or uses a third party's domain name without permission."

deceptive subject lines? Don't try and tell me there isn't room for lawyers to abuse that.

"This is a great victory for Washington consumers," Attorney General Christine Gregoire said yesterday. "Deceptive e-mails are more than just a nuisance, they rob consumers and businesses of money and time."

This isn't an anti-spam law, per se, it sounds more like an anti-anonymous-email law. How long until some lawyer tries to morph 'valid return address' into 'using your real name'?

Like all laws, it has to be levied with common sense. We all know how much common sense lawyers have.

IANAL, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Re:Hooray regulations! Hooray anti-privacy!

[stratjakt]

Wouldn't it depend on what you consider deceptive?

Here's a pretend e-mail from something I opted in to. (The law doesnt differentiate between solicited and unsolicited, so much as I can see)

From: marketing@bestbuy.com
Subj: Exciting new products!

Another walkman!

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Thats not exciting. I'm going to sue for lost time and wages.
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From: grampa@yourhometown.com
Subj: Interesting photo!

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Sorry, Gramps. I don't find your dog interesting. I'm going to sue.
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From: slashbot@slashdot.org
Subj: Interesting headlines and insightful comments on SlashDot

Now, we ALL know that's deceptive.

I don't see how the internet can exist in anything close to its current form once the lawyers rend it from bit to bit.