法律英语：42 Is Spam Illegal?

By Adam Freedman

Today’s topic: Spam
But first, your daily dose of legalese: This podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship with any listener. In other words, although I am a lawyer, I’m not your lawyer. In fact, we barely know each other. If you need personalized legal advice, contact an attorney in your community.

Legal Lad Strikes it Rich!
I really appreciate all the interesting emails sent to。。。。。。---and I read them all.   But there’s one email in particular that I’m so excited about, I just have to share it. Ms. Belinda Tacey, who currently lives in London, needs to transfer $9.6 million to the US, and is looking for a trustworthy partner to help her effect the transaction. I’m honored to say that Belinda has selected me ---that’s right, me, Legal Lad -- to be her partner.   All I have to do is send her all my personal details and I will receive a specified¹ percentage of the loot.
So looks like I’ll be able to retire very soon. But I figured I would do at least one more podcast -- and why not talk about anti-spam laws? After all, I’m afraid not everyone out there is as decent and trustworthy as my partner Belinda, so you need to protect yourself.
Is Spam Illegal?
Spam: it’s the bane of our inboxes, whether it’s a mortgage deal, a plea from a Nigerian Senator, or a very subtle pitch for “male enhancement” drugs. The more it comes, the angrier we get until we shake our fists and say: “There ought to be a law.” As it happens, there is a law. Quite a few, actually.
Back in 2003, Congress passed the infamous² CAN SPAM Act, which stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing³. I say “infamous” because the law has been much criticized for being ineffective. Indeed, some critics have dubbed⁴ it the “yes, you CAN SPAM Act.” For example, the law was supposed to lead to the creation of a national do-not-spam registry similar to the do-not-call registry. In 2004, the Federal Trade Commission submitted a nifty report to Congress about creating such a registry and since then, there has been . . . silence.
Spam Laws
Be that as it may, CAN SPAM does provide some measure of relief, from “spam,” which is basically defined as unsolicited bulk email that is “commercial” in nature, in other words, it contains some sort of advertising⁵ for some product or service. Specifically, CAN SPAM:
Prohibits fraudulent and deceptive⁶ commercial emails;
Requires senders of bulk emails to allow recipients⁷ to opt⁸ out of receiving further messages; and
Requires that any spam containing sexually-oriented material contain the warning SEXUALLY EXPLICIT⁹ in the subject line.
In addition to CAN SPAM, most US states have laws prohibiting falsity or deception¹⁰ in bulk emails.   For example, such laws may prohibit:
Falsifying the origin of or routing information on email messages;
Using an Internet address of a third party without permission;
Including misleading information in the subject line of a bulk email; or
Selling software designed solely¹¹ to falsify the origin of, or routing information on, bulk email messages.
Only Commercial Emails Are Prohibited
Like the federal CAN SPAM, these state laws target only commercial email messages. Under the First Amendment¹² to the Constitution, the government has much greater latitude¹³ to regulate commercial speech than other kinds of speech. The only state to attempt to ban non-commercial spam was Virginia -- and that law was put to the test in 2004, when a Virginia jury convicted prolific¹⁴ spammer Jeremy Jaynes, who was found to have sent as many as 24,000 spam emails in a single day to America Online subscribers.
Jaynes was sentenced to nine years in prison, but after various appeals, the Virginia Supreme¹⁵ Court overturned his conviction on the grounds that the Virginia law violated the First Amendment because it could potentially be used to punish religious, political, and other non-commercial speech. In March 2009, the US Supreme Court refused to disturb that ruling. And so, Mr. Jaynes was allowed to go free. Well, actually, he would have been allowed to go free, except that he was already serving time for federal securities crimes.
What Can You Do About Spam?
If you’re suffering from a lot of spam, or even if you’re suffering from Spamalot, you can report email abuses to the Federal Trade Commission or to state authorities. If you are a provider of Internet services, CAN SPAM allows you to bring your own lawsuit¹⁶ against spammers.
There’s just one problem.   All anti-spam laws only work against spammers within the jurisdiction¹⁷ of the state or federal government.   Unfortunately, much of the spam in your inbox probably came from China, South Korea, or other far away places. And that, I suppose, is the price of hooking up to something called the “worldwide” web.
Thank you for listening to Legal Lad’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful¹⁸ Life.  Don’t forget to check out。。。。。for more information about Mensa Testing Day, October 17.

And finally – not to be nosey – but we’d like to learn more about you and what you think of this podcast.  We're currently conducting a listener survey to find out what you like about this podcast, and how we could make it better.  If you have a few moments, please visit quickanddirtytips.com and click on the "listener survey" button in the left column.  Thanks in advance to all of you who take the time to tell us what you think.

You can send questions and comments to。。。。。。or call them in to the voicemail line at 206-202-4LAW.  Please note that doing so will not create an attorney-client relationship and will be used for the purposes of this podcast only.

 

1 specified   

adj.特定的

参考例句：

• The architect specified oak for the wood trim. 那位建筑师指定用橡木做木饰条。
• It is generated by some specified means. 这是由某些未加说明的方法产生的。

2 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

7 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

9 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

10 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

11 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

12 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

13 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

14 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

15 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

16 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

17 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

18 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。