Definition[]
Unsolicited "means without the recipient's express permission."[1]
Overview[]
"An e-mail is not unsolicited if the sender has a preexisting business or personal relationship with the recipient. An e-mail is not unsolicited if it was received as a result of the recipient opting into a system in order to receive promotional material."[2]
"The word 'unsolicited' is not unconstitutionally vague because, among states with laws relating to spam, "unsolicited" has a practically universal definition. An e-mail is unsolicited if the recipient neither requested nor consented to receive such e-mails and if the sender and recipient have no preexisting business or personal relationship. Generally included within this definition, although sometimes explicitly stated in statutes, is the notion that an organization may send e-mails to its members, employees, or contractors and that such e-mails are not 'unsolicited.'"[3]
"No one would argue that an e-mail is unsolicited if the recipient requested or consented to its transmission. Furthermore, once two parties have established a relationship, communications cannot be considered unsolicited for purposes of a criminal statute simply because one party did not specifically request it of the other. Thus, an e-mail is 'unsolicited' if the parties have no previously existing relationship, either business or personal, and the recipient did not request or consent to its transmission."[4]
References[]
- ↑ Mich Comp. Laws. Ann. §445.2502. See also Ark. Code Ann. §4-88-602 (same); N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann. §14-453 ("'Unsolicited' means not addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator has an existing business or personal relationship and not sent at the request of, or with the express consent of, the recipient").
- ↑ Mich Comp. Laws. Ann. §445.2502. See also Ark. Code Ann. §4-88-602 ("commercial electronic mail is not unsolicited if the sender has a preexisting business or personal relationship with the recipient").
- ↑ Jaynes v. Commonwealth, 48 Va. App. 673, 699-700, 634 S.E.2d 357, 369-70 (2006) (footnote omitted).
- ↑ Id. at 700, 634 S.E.2d at 370.