Washington's Law

Spam —all of us have received it. Although not all spam emails and text messages are illegal, almost all of it is a nuisance. Consumers and the Attorney General can use Washington’s anti-spam law to stop unwanted spam emails and text messages.

Washington's anti-spam 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 using:

• False information identifying the point of origin of the message or that hides the true origin of the sender;
• Any false or misleading information in the subject line; or
• A third party's email address (domain name) without permission.

The law only applies when a sender knows or has reason to know the email is being sent to Washington.

How does a sender find out if an email address is located in Washington?

• The sender checks with the domain name registrant (usually the Internet Service Provider) before sending the email;
• If the information is available, the sender is deemed to know the address is in Washington; or
• Even if the sender fails to inquire about the information, as long as it's available, the sender is deemed to know.

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What is misleading information?

Although spam may be very obnoxious or frustrating to receive, unless it violates one of the elements of Washington’s anti-spam law, it is not illegal in this state. Generally, a subject line is considered misleading if it has a tendency or capacity to deceive consumers. It need not actually deceive or harm consumers and there need not be intent to deceive for a consumer to receive statutory damages.

How do I know if information is false or misleading?

Carefully examine the sender’s information and ask yourself these questions:

• Does the email address resemble a legitimate domain name but contain slight variations in spelling or formatting?
  • Fake email domains use typos or common spelling errors, like “goolge.com” instead of “google.com”.
  • Fake email domains may also use numbers, letters, or characters to a legitimate domain name, such as “netflix@netflix1234.com”.
• Does the sender’s name not match with the email address? For example, the name displayed in the “from” field (e.g., “Microsoft”) might not match the email address (e.g., a public domain like @gmail.com)

Carefully examine the subject line of the email message and ask yourself these questions:

• Does it accurately describe what is contained in the email? For example, does a subject line describing "important news about your taxes" contain a message with information about a get-rich-quick scheme?
• Does the subject line create a false sense of urgency?
• Does it misrepresent the identity of the sender of the message?

• To a telephone number assigned to a Washington resident for a cellular telephone; and
• From a person conducting business in Washington state.

But not if:

• The message is sent by the subscriber’s cellphone carrier, unless the subscriber has indicated he or she is not willing to receive further commercial text messages from the cellphone carrier; or
• The recipient has clearly and affirmatively consented in advance to receive the commercial electronic text messages from the sender.

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