The Attorney General's Office is looking for examples of spam e-mails being sent to consumers in violation of California law, particularly from persons operating in California.

While we have valuable leads from spam posted in various newsgroups and mailing lists, we would like to obtain certain examples directly from individuals who would be prepared to verify, in a written statement under oath, information about the spam they received.

Please send your examples (as attachments, with all header information) to:
caspam@cadoj.samspade.org.

If you prefer to submit spam samples in printed form, you can download and print our complaint form for that purpose, available at:
http://caag.state.ca.us/contact/unsolicited_email.pdf. If you are submitting spam on paper, please be sure to include all headers.

The Attorney General's Office is looking for samples of spam that meet all of the following conditions:

1. You are the recipient of the spam and you are a resident of California.
2. The spam was delivered via servers located in California (sender's, recipient's or intermediary server will suffice).
3. There is some indication that the spammer is operating in California, such as a California telephone number or address for orders. If you can identify the spammer and have information from other sources showing that the spammer is in California, that will also work.
4. The spam fails to comply with the statutory restrictions. To comply, the unsolicited advertising emails' subject line must begin with "ADV:", the first text in the message must offer a toll-free number or functioning email address for removal of the recipient from further unsolicited emails, and that statement must be in a type size as large as most of the other text.

[Note: The statute also makes it an offense to fail to honor a request for removal included as outlined above, and we would like to get evidence of specific instances of that involving California residents.]

To view California law governing spam, see Section 17538.4 of the Business & Professions Code (See below):

17538.4.  (a) No person or entity conducting business in this state

shall electronically mail (e-mail) or cause to be e-mailed documents

containing unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale,

rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods,

services, or extension of credit unless that person or entity

establishes a toll-free telephone number or valid sender operated

return e-mail address that the recipient of the unsolicited documents

may call or e-mail to notify the sender not to e-mail any further

unsolicited documents.

   (b) All unsolicited e-mailed documents subject to this section

shall include a statement informing the recipient of the toll-free

telephone number that the recipient may call, or a valid return

address to which the recipient may write or e-mail, as the case may

be, notifying the sender not to e-mail the recipient any further

unsolicited documents to the e-mail address, or addresses, specified

by the recipient.

   The statement shall be the first text in the body of the message

and shall be of the same size as the majority of the text of the

message.

   (c) Upon notification by a recipient of his or her request not to

receive any further unsolicited e-mailed documents, no person or

entity conducting business in this state shall e-mail or cause to be

e-mailed any unsolicited documents to that recipient.

   (d) This section shall apply when the unsolicited e-mailed

documents are delivered to a California resident via an electronic

mail service provider's service or equipment located in this state.

For these purposes "electronic mail service provider" means any

business or organization qualified to do business in this state that

provides individuals, corporations, or other entities the ability to

send or receive electronic mail through equipment located in this

state and that is an intermediary in sending or receiving electronic

mail.

   (e) As used in this section, "unsolicited e-mailed documents"

means any e-mailed document or documents consisting of advertising

material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other

disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit

that meet both of the following requirements:

   (1) The documents are addressed to a recipient with whom the

initiator does not have an existing business or personal

relationship.

   (2) The documents are not sent at the request of, or with the

express consent of, the recipient.

   (f) As used in this section, "e-mail" or "cause to be e-mailed"

does not include or refer to the transmission of any documents by a

telecommunications utility or Internet service provider to the extent

that the telecommunications utility or Internet service provider

merely carries that transmission over its network.

   (g) In the case of e-mail that consists of unsolicited advertising

material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other

disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit,

the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:" as

the first four characters.  If these messages contain information

that consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease,

sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods,

services, or extension of credit that may only be viewed, purchased,

rented, leased, or held in possession by an individual 18 years of

age and older, the subject line of each and every message shall

include "ADV:ADLT" as the first eight characters.

   (h) An employer who is the registered owner of more than one

e-mail address may notify the person or entity conducting business in

this state e-mailing or causing to be e-mailed documents consisting

of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift

offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or

extension of credit of the desire to cease e-mailing on behalf of all

of the employees who may use employer-provided and

employer-controlled e-mail addresses.

   (i) This section, or any part of this section, shall become

inoperative on and after the date that federal law is enacted that

prohibits or otherwise regulates the transmission of unsolicited

advertising by electronic mail (e-mail).