Legal Definitions - Florida

In the context of legal regulations, Florida refers to the specific laws and statutes enacted by the State of Florida that govern various aspects of electronic communication, consumer protection, and public safety. These laws aim to protect residents from unwanted solicitations, deceptive business practices, and harmful online activities.

Commercial Email and Spam

Florida has specific legislation, known as the Electronic Mail Communications Act, designed to combat unsolicited commercial emails, commonly known as spam. This law primarily prohibits sending emails that hide the sender's true identity or contain false or misleading information.

• Example 1: A marketing company sends out millions of emails promoting a new weight-loss supplement. To avoid detection, they configure their email system to show a fake sender address like "[email protected]" when the actual sender is "SpamCo Marketing."

  Explanation: This action violates Florida's Electronic Mail Communications Act because the company is falsifying the email routing information, making it difficult for recipients to identify the true sender or opt out of future communications.

• Example 2: An email arrives in your inbox with the subject line "URGENT: Your Bank Account Has Been Frozen!" The email then prompts you to click a link to "verify your details" to unfreeze it. However, the email is not from your bank but from a scammer attempting to phish your information.

  Explanation: This scenario illustrates a violation of Florida's anti-spam law because the email contains false and misleading information in its subject line and content, designed to trick the recipient into a harmful action.

Telemarketing and Telephonic Anti-Solicitation

Florida law provides robust protections against unwanted telemarketing calls and harassing phone communications. This includes the original telephone anti-solicitation law and the Florida Telemarketing Act, which regulate how businesses can contact consumers and prohibit certain types of calls.

• Example 1: A solar panel installation company uses an automated dialing system to call thousands of Florida residents, playing a pre-recorded message about their services, even to phone numbers registered on the national Do Not Call Registry.

  Explanation: This practice likely violates Florida's telemarketing laws, which restrict the use of automated dialers and pre-recorded messages for unsolicited sales calls, especially to individuals who have opted out of such communications.

• Example 2: After a customer cancels their subscription, a representative from a magazine company repeatedly calls them, sometimes several times a day, leaving aggressive voicemails demanding they reconsider and resubscribe.

  Explanation: Such persistent and aggressive calling could fall under Florida's laws against harassing telephone calls, which aim to prevent individuals from being subjected to unwanted and distressing communications.

Faxes, Texts, and Other Media Anti-Solicitation

Florida also regulates unsolicited advertisements sent via fax machines and, through interpretation of federal law, text messages. These laws aim to prevent businesses from using these communication methods to send unwanted promotional materials.

• Example 1: A local restaurant frequently sends out advertisements for its daily specials by faxing them to hundreds of businesses in the area, even though these businesses never requested to receive such faxes.

  Explanation: This action is a direct violation of Florida law prohibiting the use of fax machines to send unsolicited advertisements, potentially incurring penalties for each fax sent.

• Example 2: A clothing brand sends promotional text messages to a list of phone numbers it purchased, without obtaining prior consent from the recipients to receive marketing texts.

  Explanation: While Florida's specific fax law doesn't directly cover texts, a Florida court has held that a private lawsuit can be brought under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in Florida state courts for unsolicited text messages, offering a similar protection.

Unlawful Trade Practices

Florida has broad laws against unlawful trade practices, ensuring fair dealings between businesses and consumers. These laws provide remedies for consumers who have been harmed by deceptive or unfair business conduct.

• Example 1: A car dealership advertises a new car at a very low price in a newspaper ad. However, when a customer comes to purchase it, the dealership adds several mandatory "dealer prep" and "documentation" fees that were not disclosed in the advertisement, significantly increasing the final price.

  Explanation: This could be considered an unlawful trade practice under Florida law because the dealership engaged in deceptive advertising by not clearly disclosing all mandatory costs upfront, misleading the consumer about the true price.

• Example 2: A company selling extended home warranties uses high-pressure sales tactics, including making false claims about the imminent failure of a consumer's appliances, to convince an elderly homeowner to purchase an expensive and unnecessary warranty plan.

  Explanation: Such deceptive and coercive sales tactics against vulnerable consumers would likely constitute an unlawful trade practice in Florida, allowing the consumer to seek remedies.

Pornography and Child Exploitation

Florida law includes stringent measures to combat child pornography and the sexual exploitation of minors, particularly through electronic means. The Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act and related statutes criminalize various activities involving minors and explicit content.

• Example 1: An individual uses an online messaging app to transmit sexually explicit images of a minor to another person.

  Explanation: This act is a serious felony under Florida's Computer Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act, which criminalizes the transmission of child pornography.

• Example 2: Two teenagers, both under 18, exchange nude images of themselves via text message.

  Explanation: This scenario falls under Florida law that specifically criminalizes "sexting" – the electronic transmission of nude images by minors – even if consensual between minors.

Computer-related Crime (Sex Offenders)

Florida's legal framework also addresses computer-related crimes, particularly concerning registered sex offenders. The Cybercrimes Against Children Act of 2007 mandates that convicted sex offenders register their email addresses and allows for information sharing with social networking sites.

• Example 1: A person convicted of a sex offense in Florida moves to a new address and creates a new email account but fails to update this information with the state's sex offender registry as required.

  Explanation: This individual would be in violation of Florida's Cybercrimes Against Children Act, which mandates the registration of email addresses by convicted sex offenders to ensure their online activities can be monitored.

• Example 2: The Florida Department of Law Enforcement identifies a registered sex offender attempting to create a profile on a popular social media platform. The department then shares the offender's registered email address and other relevant information with the social networking site.

  Explanation: This action is authorized by Florida law, which enables the Department of Law Enforcement to provide information about registered sex offenders to social networking sites to help protect users, especially minors, from potential harm.