Section 45.45.792. Prohibited conduct relating to spyware.

   (a) It is unlawful for a person who is not the owner or authorized user of a computer to engage in deceptive acts or practices described in this subsection using spyware. Deceptive acts or practices under this subsection are
        (1) causing a pop-up advertisement to be shown on the computer screen of a user by means of a spyware program, knowing that the pop-up advertisement is
             (A) displayed in response to a user accessing a specific
                  (i) mark; or
                  (ii) Internet website address; and
             (B) purchased or acquired by a person other than
                  (i) the mark owner;
                  (ii) a licensee of the mark;
                  (iii) an authorized agent of the owner of the mark;
                  (iv) an authorized user of the mark; or
                  (v) a person advertising the lawful sale, lease, or transfer of products bearing the mark through a secondary marketplace for the sale of goods or services; and
        (2) purchasing advertising that violates (1) of this subsection if the purchaser of the advertising
             (A) receives notice of the violation from the mark owner; and
             (B) fails to stop the violation.
   (b) It is not a violation of this section for a person to display a pop-up advertisement under (a)(1) of this section if the spyware program includes a function that
        (1) requests information about the user's state of residence before displaying a pop-up advertisement to the user, and the user indicates a residence outside this state;
        (2) implements a reasonably reliable automated system to determine the user's likely geographic location, according to current best practices in the field, and the system determines that it is unlikely that the user is located in this state; and
        (3) does not prompt, ask, or otherwise encourage a user to indicate a residence outside this state.
   (c) It is not a violation of (a)(2) of this section if a person purchases advertising that complies with the requirements of (b) of this section.

Authorities

45.45.794;45.45.798;45.50.471

Notes

References

AS 45.45.794 Removal of potentially harmful software.
AS 45.45.798 Definitions.
AS 45.50.471 Unlawful acts and practices.

History

(Sec. 3 ch 97 SLA 2005)