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2002 SESSION

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HB 533 Unsolicited commercial electronic mail; prohibitions, penalty.

Introduced by: Jeannemarie Devolites | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Unsolicited commercial electronic mail; prohibitions; penalties. Prohibits sending unsolicited commercial electronic mail to persons if it uses a third party's domain name without permission; contains false or forged transmission information; contains false or misleading information in the subject line or if the person indicates that he does not wish to receive commercial electronic mail from the sender. The bill requires the sender to identify the message as an advertisement or solicitation; provide notice of the right to decline to receive further unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages from the sender; provide a valid physical address; provide a valid return electronic mail address for receiving requests to not receive further unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages from the sender. The bill allows interactive service providers to block commercial electronic mail sent in violation of this chapter and provides immunity from liability for such actions taken in good faith. This bill provides relief to an injured person for actual damages or the lesser of $10 for each unsolicited bulk e-mail message or $25,000 per day and states that the injured person shall not have a cause of action against an interactive computer service provider that merely transmits the e-mail message. The Attorney General or, attorney for the Commonwealth or attorney for a locality may bring an action to enforce these provisions. The purpose of the bill is to curb a practice known as "spamming," the sending of unsolicited commercial e-mail to unsuspecting recipients. This bill does not include provisions regarding falsifying transmission or routing information that are included in the Virginia Computer Crimes Act (§ 18.2-152.1 et seq.).


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