IDAHO CODE
TITLE 48. MONOPOLIES AND TRADE PRACTICES
CHAPTER 6. CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT
SECTION 48-603E. UNFAIR BULK ELECTRONIC MAIL ADVERTISEMENT PRACTICES
Added by House Bill 505
(approved by Governor April 17, 2000; effective July 1, 2000)
§ 48-603E. UNFAIR BULK ELECTRONIC MAIL
ADVERTISEMENT PRACTICES. (1) For purposes of this section, unless
the context otherwise requires:
(a) "Bulk electronic mail advertisement" means an electronic message,
containing the same or similar advertisement, which is contemporaneously
transmitted to two (2) or more recipients, pursuant to an internet or
intranet computer network.
(b) "Computer network" means a set of related, remotely connected devices
and communication facilities, including two (2) or more computers, with
the capability to transmit data among them through communication facilities.
(c) "Interactive computer service" means an information service, system
or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by
multiple users to a computer server, including specifically a service or
system that provides access to the internet, and such systems operated or
services offered by a library or an educational institution.
(d) "Recipient" means a person who receives any bulk electronic mail
advertisements.
(2) Any person who uses an interactive computer service to initiate or
cause the sending or transmittal of any bulk electronic mail advertisement
shall provide an electronic mail address readily identifiable in the bulk
electronic mail advertisement to which the recipient may send a request for
declining such mail.
(3) It is unlawful for a person to use an interactive computer service to
initiate or cause the sending or transmittal of any bulk electronic mail
advertisement to any recipient that the sender knows, or has reason to know,
engages in any of the following:
(a) Uses the name of a fictitious name of a third party in the return
address field without the permission of the third party.
(b) Misrepresents any information in identifying the point of origin of
the transmission path of the bulk electronic mail advertisement.
(c) Fails to contain information identifying the point of origin of the
transmission path of the bulk electronic mail advertisement.
(d) Sends or transmits, at any time after five (5) business days of a
declination, any bulk electronic mail advertisement to a recipient who
provided the sender with a request declining the receipt of such advertisements.
(4) Pursuant to section 48-608, Idaho Code, a recipient that receives a
bulk electronic mail advertisement in violation of this section may bring an
action to recover actual damages. The recipient, in lieu of actual damages,
may elect to recover from the person transmitting or causing to be transmitted
such bulk electronic mail advertisement the greater of one hundred dollars
($100) for each bulk electronic mail advertisement transmitted to the recipient
in violation of this section or one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(5) This section does not apply to any of the following:
(a) A person, including an interactive computer service, who provides
users with access to a computer network, and as part of that service,
transmits electronic mail on behalf of those users, unless such person
transmits bulk electronic mail advertisements on behalf of those users
which the person knows, or should have known, were transmitted in violation
of this section.
(b) Electronic mail advertisements which are accessed by the recipient
from an electronic bulletin board.
(c) A person who provides users with access at no charge to electronic
mail, including receiving and transmitting bulk electronic mail advertisements,
and, as a condition of providing such access, requires such users
to receive unsolicited advertisements.
(d) The transmission of bulk electronic mail advertisements from an
organization or similar entity to the members of such organization.
(6) An interactive computer service is not liable under this section for
an action voluntarily taken in good faith to block or prevent the receipt or
transmission through its service of any bulk electronic mail advertisement
which is reasonably believed to be in violation of this section.
