A more thorough explanation:

Definition: Washington has several laws and regulations related to electronic communication and commerce. These include laws related to commercial email and spam, telemarketing and telephonic anti-solicitation, faxes, texts, and other media anti-solicitation, unlawful trade practices, and computer-related crime.

The Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act ("CEMA") prohibits sending commercial electronic emails to or from Washington computers if the point of origin of the email or its transmission path is disguised or if the email's subject line contains false or misleading information. Violations of CEMA are violations of Washington's Consumer Protection Act. CEMA may be enforced by the Washington State Attorney General's Office or through private litigation.

Example: A company sends an email advertising a product, but the email appears to come from a different company or uses a misleading subject line. This would be a violation of CEMA.

The Washington Commercial Telephone Solicitation Act prohibits the use of automatic dialing machines for purposes of commercial solicitation. Washington also prohibits unsolicited fax transmissions of advertisements.

Example: A company uses an automatic dialing machine to call people and advertise their product. This would be a violation of the Washington Commercial Telephone Solicitation Act.

Washington prohibits the initiation of fax transmission of unsolicited advertisements, subject to exceptions. In 2003, a prohibition on initiating commercial electronic text messages was added to Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act ("CEMA").

Example: A company sends unsolicited faxes advertising their product. This would be a violation of Washington's anti-solicitation laws.

Washington has a general prohibition of unfair business practices, known as the Washington Consumer Protection Act. This law prohibits false or misleading advertising by any electronic means.

Example: A company advertises a product using false or misleading information on their website. This would be a violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act.

Washington prohibits the electronic transmission of software designed to harvest private data ("spyware" and "phishing"), or to manipulate the recipient computer in other related ways. Washington also criminalizes false or misleading advertising by any electronic means.

Example: A company sends an email with a link that, when clicked, installs spyware on the recipient's computer. This would be a violation of Washington's computer-related crime laws.