Commercial Email and Spam:
Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act ("CEMA"), codified at Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 19.190 (§§ 19.190.010 - 19.190.110)
- CEMA prohibits sending commercial electronic emails, to or from Washington computers, where: (1) the point of origin of the email, or its transmission path, is in some way disguised (e.g. through the use of a third party's internet domain name without permission), or (2) the email's subject line contains false or misleading information. See Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 19.190 (§ 19.190.020).
- Violations of CEMA are violations of Washington's Consumer Protection Act - see Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 19.190 (§§ 19.190.030, 19.190.100)
- CEMA may be enforced by the Washington State Attorney General's Office (as violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act), or through private litigation - see Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 19.190 (§ 19.190.090) & Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 19.86 (§ 19.86.080)
Note: In the case of Gordon v. Virtumundo, 575 F.3d 1040 (9th Cir. 2009), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that portions of this statute are preempted by the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. See Spam-Related Case-Law: Washington Case-Law
Telemarketing and Telephonic Anti-Solicitation:
Washington Commercial Telephone Solicitation Act, codified at Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 19.158 (§§ 19.158.010 - 19.158.901); see also Revised Code of Washington Title 80, Chapter 80.36 (§ 80.36.390)
Washington prohibits the use of automatic dialing machines for purposes of commercial solicitation - see Revised Code of Washington Title 80, Chapter 80.36 (§ 80.36.400)
Faxes, Texts, and Other Media Anti-Solicitation:
Prohibition on the initiation of fax transmission of unsolicited advertisements, subject to exceptions, codified at Revised Code of Washington Title 80, Chapter 80.36 (§ 80.36.540)
In 2003, a prohibition on initiating commercial electronic text messages was added to Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act ("CEMA") - see Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 19.190 (§§ 19.190.060 - 19.190-070)
Unlawful Trade Practices:
General prohibition of unfair business practices - the Washington Consumer Protection Act - codified at Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 86 (§§ 19.86.010 - 19.86.920)
Computer-related Crime:
Washington prohibits the electronic transmission of software designed to harvest private data ("spyware" and "phishing"), or to manipulate the recipient computer in other related ways - see Revised Code of Washington Title 19, Chapter 270 (§§ 270.010 - 270.900)
Washington criminalizes false or misleading advertising by any electronic means - see Revised Code of Washington Title 9, Chapter 9.04 (§ 9.04.050)