LOUISIANA REVISED STATUTES
Title 14. Criminal Law
Section 73.1
(as amended by 1999 La. Acts 1180 (approved July 9, 1999))
§ 73.1. Definitions
As used in this Subpart unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) "Access" means to program, to execute programs on, to communicate with,
store data in, retrieve data from, or otherwise make use of any resources,
including data or programs, of a computer, computer system, or computer network.
(2) "Computer" includes an electronic, magnetic, optical, or other high-speed
data processing device or system performing logical, arithmetic, and storage
functions, and includes any property, data storage facility, or communications
facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with such device or system.
"Computer" shall not include an automated typewriter or typesetter, a machine
designed solely for word processing, or a portable hand-held calculator, nor
shall "computer" include any other device which might contain components
similar to those in computers but in which the components have the sole function
of controlling the device for the single purpose for which the device is intended.
(3) "Computer network" means a set of related, remotely connected devices
and communication facilities including at least one computer system with capability
to transmit data through communication facilities.
(4) "Computer program" means an ordered set of data representing coded
instructions or statements that when executed by a computer cause the computer
to process data.
(5) "Computer services" means providing access to or service or data from a
computer, a computer system, or a computer network, and also includes but is not
limited to data processing services, Internet services, electronic mail services,
electronic message services, or Information or data stored in connection therewith.
(6) "Computer software" means a set of computer programs, procedures, and
associated documentation concerned with operation of a computer system.
(7) "Computer system" means a set of functionally related, connected or
unconnected, computer equipment, devices, or computer software.
(8) "Electronic mail service provider" means any person who both:
(a) is an intermediary in sending or receiving electronic mail.
(b) provides to end-users of electronic mail services the ability to send or
receive electronic mail.
(9) "Financial instrument" means any check, draft, money order, certificate
of deposit, letter of credit, bill of exchange, access card as defined in R.S. 14:67.3,
or marketable security.
(10) "Intellectual property" includes data, computer programs, computer
software, trade secrets as defined in R.S. 51:1431(4), copyrighted materials,
and confidential or proprietary information, in any form or medium, when such
is stored in, produced by, or intended for use or storage with or in a
computer, a computer system, or a computer network.
(11) "Proper means" include:
(a) Discovery by independent invention;
(b) Discovery by "reverse engineering", that is by starting with the known product
and working backward to find the method by which it was developed. The acquisition
of the known product must be by lawful means;
(c) Discovery under license or authority of the owner;
(d) Observation of the property in public use or on public display; or
(e) Discovery in published literature.
(12) "Property" means property as defined in R.S. 14:2(8) and shall
specifically include but not be limited to financial instruments,
electronically stored or produced data, and computer programs, whether
in machine readable or human readable form.
(13) "Unsolicited bulk electronic mail" means any electronic message which
is developed and distributed in an effort to sell or lease consumer goods or
services and is sent in the same or substantially similar form to more than one
thousand recipients.
LOUISIANA REVISED STATUTES
Title 14. Criminal Law
Section 73.6
(added by 1999 La. Acts 1180 (approved July 9, 1999))
§ 73.6. Unsolicited Bulk Electronic Mail
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to use a computer, a computer network,
or the computer services of an electronic mail service provider to transmit
unsolicited bulk electronic mail in contravention of the authority granted by or in
violation of the policies set by the electronic mail service provider. Transmission
of electronic mail from an organization to its members or noncommercial
electronic mail transmissions shall not be deemed to be unsolicited bulk
electronic mail.
B. It is unlawful for any person to use a computer or computer network without
authority with the intent to falsify or forge electronic mail transmission
information or other routing information in any manner in connection with the
transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic mail through or into the computer
network of an electronic mail service provider or its subscribers. It is also
unlawful for any person knowingly to sell, give, or otherwise distribute or
possess with the intent to sell, give, or distribute software which is any of the
following:
(1) primarily designed or produced for the purpose of facilitating or enabling
the falsification of electronic mail transmission information or other routing
information.
(2) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to
facilitate or enable the falsification of electronic mail transmission information
or other routing information.
(3) marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with
that person's knowledge for use in facilitating or enabling the falsification of
electronic mail transmission information or other routing information.
C. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be fined not more than
five thousand dollars.
D. Nothing in this section shall be construed to interfere with or prohibit terms
or conditions in a contract or license related to computers, computer data,
computer networks, computer operations, computer programs, computer
services, or computer software, or to create any liability by reason of terms or
conditions adopted by, or technical measures implemented by, an electronic mail
service provider to prevent the transmission of unsolicited electronic mail in
violation of this section.
LOUISIANA REVISED STATUTES
Title 51. Trade and Commerce
Chapter 19-C. Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Restrictions
(added by 2003 La. Acts 1275 (approved July 2, 2003))
§ 51:1741. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter, the following words shall have the meanings
hereinafter ascribed to them:
(1) "Commercial electronic mail advertisement" means any electronic mail message
initiated for the primary purpose of advertising or promoting the lease, sale, rental,
gift offer, or other disposition of any property, goods, services, or extension of credit.
(2) "Domain name" means any alphanumeric designation that is registered with or
assigned by any domain name registrar as part of an electronic mail address on the
internet.
(3) "Electronic mail" means an electronic message that is transmitted between
two or more telecommunications devices, computers, or electronic devices capable
of receiving electronic messages, whether or not the message is converted to hard
copy format after receipt or is viewed upon transmission or stored for later
retrieval. "Electronic mail" includes electronic messages that are transmitted
through a local, regional, or global computer network.
(4) "Electronic mail address" means a destination, commonly expressed as a
string of characters, to which electronic mail can be sent or delivered. An
"electronic mail address" may include a user name or mailbox and a reference
to an internet domain.
(5) "Electronic mail service provider" means any person, including an
internet service provider, that is an intermediary in sending or receiving
electronic mail or that provides to end users of the electronic mail service
the ability to send or receive electronic mail.
(6) "Functioning return electronic mail address" means an electronic mail
address displayed in a commercial electronic mail advertisement that has the
capacity to receive the number of reply messages that the sender of the commercial
electronic mail advertisement should reasonably expect to be transmitted by the
recipients for no less than thirty days after the sending of such advertisements.
(7) "Header information" means the source, destination, and routing
information attached at the beginning of an electronic mail message, including
the originating domain name and originating electronic mail message.
(8) "Initiate the transmission of a commercial electronic mail advertisement"
means to transmit or cause to be transmitted a commercial electronic mail
advertisement or assist in the transmission of a commercial electronic mail
advertisement by providing or selecting electronic mail addresses to which
the advertisement may be sent, but does not include the transmission by a
telecommunications utility or an electronic mail service provider of the
advertisement at the direction of another person through the network or
system of a telecommunications utility or an electronic mail service provider.
(9) "Internet" means the international computer network of both federal and
nonfederal interoperable packet switched data networks.
(10) "Louisiana electronic mail address" means any of the following:
(a) An electronic mail address furnished by an electronic mail service
provider that sends bills for furnishing and maintaining that electronic mail
address to a mailing address in this state.
(b) An electronic mail address ordinarily accessed from a computer located
in this state.
(c) An electronic mail address furnished to a resident of this state.
(11) "Obscene material" means any tangible work or thing which the trier of
fact determines:
(a) The average person applying contemporary community standards would find,
taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.
(b) Depicts or describes in a patently offensive way, hard-core sexual
conduct as specifically provided in R.S. 14:106(A)(2).
(c) The work or thing, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic,
political, or scientific value.
(12) "Recipient" means the addressee of a commercial electronic mail advertisement.
If an addressee of a commercial electronic mail advertisement has one or more electronic
mail addresses to which a commercial electronic mail advertisement is sent, the
addressee shall be deemed to be a separate recipient for each address to which the
advertisement is sent.
(13) "Sender" means a person who initiates a commercial electronic mail
advertisement.
(14) "Unsolicited commercial electronic mail message" means a commercial
electronic mail message sent without the consent of the recipient, by a person
with whom the recipient does not have a preexisting or current business
relationship. The term "unsolicited commercial electronic message" does not
include electronic mail messages where the sender:
(a) Is an organization using electronic mail to communicate exclusively
with its members.
(b) Is an organization using electronic mail to communicate exclusively
with its employees or contractors, or both.
(c) Has the consent of the recipient.
§ 51:1741.1. Return electronic mail addresses;
required disclosure
Any sender of unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisements
either from Louisiana or to a Louisiana electronic mail address shall do
all of the following:
(1) Maintain a functioning return electronic mail address to which a
recipient may send a reply indicating the recipient's desire not to receive
further commercial electronic mail advertisements from the sender at the
electronic mail address at which the message was received.
(2) Maintain a functioning website at which a recipient may request his
removal from the sender's mailing list.
(3) Clearly and conspicuously disclose in the commercial electronic mail
advertisement all of the following:
(a) The recipient's right to decline to receive further unsolicited
commercial electronic mail advertisements at the electronic mail address at
which the message was received.
(b) The recipient's ability to decline to receive further unsolicited
commercial electronic mail advertisements by sending a message to the sender's
functioning return electronic mail address.
(c) The sender's functioning return electronic mail address.
(4) Include in the subject line of the commercial electronic mail advertisement "ADV:" as the first four characters.
(5) If the commercial electronic mail advertisement contains obscene material, include in the subject line of the commercial electronic mail advertisement "ADV:ADLT" as the first eight characters.
§ 51:1741.2. Unlawful activities
A. It is unlawful for any person knowingly to initiate the transmission of
an unsolicited commercial electronic mail advertisement either from Louisiana or
to a Louisiana electronic mail address under any of the following circumstances:
(1) The commercial electronic mail advertisement contains or is accompanied
by a third party's domain name without permission of the third party.
(2) The commercial electronic mail advertisement contains or is accompanied by
falsified, misrepresented, intentionally obscured, or forged header information.
(3) The commercial electronic mail advertisement has a subject line that is
intended to mislead the public about the contents of the advertisement.
(4) The sender is in violation of R.S. 51:1741.1 or the commercial electronic
mail advertisement does not contain the notice required by R.S. 51:1741.1(3).
(5) More than twenty-one business days after the recipient of an unsolicited
commercial electronic mail advertisement has informed the sender, by use of the
functioning return electronic mail address or by other electronic means communicated
to and specified by the sender, that the recipient does not wish to receive unsolicited
commercial electronic mail advertisements at that electronic mail address.
(6) An employer has informed the sender, as provided in Subsection C of
this Section, not to send further unsolicited commercial electronic mail
advertisements to designated electronic mail addresses.
B. It is unlawful for any person to knowingly sell or otherwise provide a list
of electronic mail addresses to be used to:
(1) Initiate the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail
advertisements in violation of this Chapter from Louisiana.
(2) Initiate the transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail
advertisements in violation of this Chapter to a Louisiana electronic mail address.
C. An employer who provides or has control over one or more electronic mail
addresses used by his employees may notify the sender of an unsolicited
commercial electronic mail advertisement, by use of the functioning return
electronic mail address or by other electronic means communicated to the
sender, that no further commercial electronic mail advertisements should be
transmitted to any of the employer-provided and employer-controlled electronic
mail addresses.
§ 51:1741.3. Civil actions
A. Any person whose property or person is injured by reason of a violation
of any provision of this Chapter may recover for any damages sustained and the
costs of suit. For the purposes of this Section, the term "damages" shall
include but not be limited to loss of profits.
B. If the injury arises from the transmission of unsolicited or commercial
electronic mail messages, the injured person, other than an electronic
mail service provider, may also recover attorney fees and costs and may elect,
in lieu of actual damages, to recover the lesser of ten dollars for each and
every unsolicited commercial electronic mail message transmitted in violation
of this Chapter, or twenty-five thousand dollars per day. The injured person
shall not have a cause of action against the electronic mail service provider,
which merely transmits the unsolicited commercial electronic mail message over
its computer network.
C. If the injury arises from the transmission of unsolicited or commercial
electronic mail messages, an injured electronic mail service provider may
also recover attorney fees and costs and may elect, in lieu of actual damages,
to recover the lesser of ten dollars for each and every unsolicited commercial
electronic mail message transmitted in violation of this Chapter, or twenty-five
thousand dollars per day.
D. At the request of any party to an action brought pursuant to this Section,
the court may, in its discretion, conduct all legal proceedings in such a way
as to protect the secrecy and security of the computer, computer network,
computer data, computer program, and computer software involved in order to
prevent possible recurrence of the same or a similar act by another person
and to protect any trade secrets of any party.
E. An electronic mail service provider shall not be deemed in violation of this
Chapter and the injured party shall not have a cause of action against an
electronic mail service provider due to the fact that the electronic mail
service provider:
(1) Is an intermediary between the sender and recipient in the transmission of
an electronic mail that violates this Chapter.
(2) Provides transmission of unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages over
the provider's computer network or facilities or shall be liable for any action it
voluntarily takes in good faith to block the receipt or transmission through its
service of any electronic mail advertisements that it believes is or will be sent
in violation of this Chapter.
