1/31/2006
Maryland spam law can be enforced, judge rules
January 27, Associated Press — Maryland spam law can be enforced, judge rules. Spam e−mails offering home financing deals or other offers can violate Maryland law, even if they’re sent from another state, a state appeals court has ruled. Court of Special Appeals Judge Sally D. Adkins sided with a law student who argued that he could sue a New York e−mail marketer who had sent him advertising messages. The decision, issued Thursday, January 26, overturns a lower court ruling that Maryland’s 2002 Commercial Electronic Mail Act was unconstitutional because it sought to regulate commerce outside state borders. Adkins, in a 60−page decision, blasted the marketer’s claims that he should not be punished for violating Maryland law because he had no way of knowing whether his e−mails would be opened in Maryland. “This allegation has little more validity than one who contends he is not guilty of homicide when he shoots a rifle into a crowd of people without picking a specific target, and someone dies,” the judge wrote. Maryland was one of the first states to try to control junk e−mail through legislation, and its 2002 law predates the 2004 federal CAN−SPAM Act. The federal law superseded most state laws unless they specifically addressed deceptive or fraudulent e−mail, which Maryland’s does.
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Filed by Ken at 1:14 pm under InfoSec
