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From...

Lawsuit filed under Washington state spam law

October 26, 1998
Web posted at: 11:15 AM EDT

by Roberta Fusaro

(IDG) -- A Salem, Ore., business owner has the unpleasant distinction of being the target of the first spamming lawsuit filed by the Washington State attorney general's office.

The suit was filed yesterday in King County Superior Court. It alleges that Jason Heckel, 24, owner of a business called Natural Instincts, sent unsolicited commercial E-mail, or spam, to millions of Internet users to promote a book, How to Profit from the Internet. Among those bombarded with spam were Washington State residents.

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Under that state's antispam law, which was enacted in June, it is illegal to send unsolicited commercial E-mail that doesn't identify itself as such in the subject line or that contains a false return address. The law applies to E-mail sent from or received in Washington State.

Several private spam lawsuits have been filed since the law was passed, but the Heckel suit marks the first action from the state itself.

The suit alleges that Heckel used a misleading subject line that read, "Did I get the right E-mail address?" to trick recipients into downloading and reading his entire message. The body of the message includes a sales pitch for Heckel's book, which cost $39.95. The suit also charges Heckel with providing an invalid return E-mail address.

The attorney general is filing for a fine of $2,000 for each piece of spam sent to Washington residents in violation of the antispam law.

Scott Hazen Mueller, chairman of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail, an antispam group, applauded the attorney general's action.

"When a spammer violates Washington state's law by forging contact information and using a misleading subject line, they should be pursued and punished," Mueller said. "It is a fraudulent business practice and should be treated as severely as fraud in the off-line world."

Mickey Chandler, president of the Forum of Responsible and Ethical E-mail (FREE) antispam advocacy group, said in a statement that Heckel was warned by the attorney general's office to stop before it filed suit, "and that wasn't enough to keep him from forcing others to pay for his advertising."

Heckel couldn't be reached for comment.

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