Spam from/about connected user (Subject: aviation)

[Scot Harkins on SCN.org]

It's a civil statute as opposed to a criminal statute.

Criminal statutes provide for prosecution by the State (or jurisdictions
within the state under state law) and are acted upon by government
authorities.  Criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt and
come in levels of misdemeanor (minor offenses) and felony (major offenses).

Civil statutes provide for relief for non-criminal acts.  The injured party
sues under the cited law(s) in the appropriate court/jurisdiction.  The
suing party only needs a preponderance of evidence, achieving greater than
50% proof to make the case.

In the case of the anti-spam law you have to sue in order to obtain a
judgement.  The amounts awarded are provided in the law, being, I think,
$500 per offense for individuals.  ISP's have recourse of $1500 per event
for network and system resources used, probably just for relay cases or the
like.  I'm not sure of the precedent to date on this law, or the specific
guidelines for the judgements.  The law is available via access.wa.gov from
the online RCW.


Scot

--
Scot Harkins (KA5KDU) | Systems Administrator, Thurman Ind, Bothell, WA
North Bend, WA        | Native Texan firmly planted in Western Washington
scoth at bigfoot.com     | SCA: Ld. Scot MacFin, Barony of Madrone, An Tir
scoth at scn.org/msn.com | URL <http://www.bigfoot.com/~scoth>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Schuler" <douglas at scn.org>
To: <scoth at scn.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: Spam from/about connected user (Subject: aviation)


> There is a specific Washington state statute against spamming.
>
> I didn't think it was necessary to sue!



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