Washington Anti-Spam Law

Spam, every day more Spam. Our email in-boxes are clogged with it. Spam blockers work to some extent but tend to be a pain themselves. As consumers in Washington State you now have a Washington law that allows you to fight back. The Anti-Spam law has been upheld by the Washington Supreme Court and Washington district courts have been directed to hear spam cases.

Washington's law makes it illegal in Washington to send an unsolicited commercial email if the email is sent to a Washington email address or from a computer located in Washington and the sender used false information identifying the point of origin of the message or any method that hides the true origin of the sender, false or misleading information in the subject line, or a third party email address without permission (hijacking your computer to send spam). Also the law only applies when a sender knows or has reason to know the email is being sent to Washington. Saying you didn't know is not as easy a defense as it sounds. The spammer should check with the domain name registrant (usually the Internet Service Provider) before sending the email. Even if he doesn't check, and the information is available, the spammer is deemed to know the address is in Washington.

To make it harder for the spammer to use the "I didn't know" defense, the State of Washington has set up a Email Registry where you can register your email address. If you have registered your email address here, then the spammer is deemed to know that your email address is in the State of Washington. Washington's Email registry is co-sponsored by the Washington Association of Internet Service Providers (WAISP) and the Washington Attorney General. Registration protects your right to take individual action under the law. Register. It won't stop email spammers but it will give you a way to fight back.