Posted on 09/06/2006 8:00:17 AM PDT by steve-b
RICHMOND (AP) -- The Virginia Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the nation's first felony conviction of illegal spamming.
Jeremy Jaynes, of Raleigh, N.C., considered among the top 10 spammers in the world at the time of his arrest, used the Internet to peddle pornography and sham products and services, prosecutors said. Thousands of people fell for his scam, grossing Jaynes' operations up to $750,000 per month, investigators said.
In its unanimous ruling, the appeals court wrote that Virginia has a "legitimate public interest" in policing unsolicited e-mail and that the state anti-spamming law's effect on interstate commerce "is incidental and clearly not excessive."...
A Loudoun County jury had recommended the nine-year term for Jaynes, but Circuit Judge Thomas Horne delayed the start of his prison term during the appeal, saying the law raised constitutional questions....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
They should glue his eyes to a computer screen. There's your "eye for an eye" justice, LOL!
The only thing worse than spammers are virus writers.
Not "Tech" but rather Tech-related.
spam is VERY tech related.. heh. Look at how it affects the entiore internet and has created an anti-spam indistry to help combat it... it's all about the money...
I rather like a proposal I once heard for an appropriate punishment for spamming:
The convicted spammer is locked up with a computer -- which is his only contact with the prison management. When he wants to take an exercise break, use the potty, go to the chow hall, etc, he sends an e-mail request, gets a hall-pass coupon (with a verification code) e-mailed back, and prints it out to show the guards.
There is one small catch. The prisoner's incoming e-mail is flooded with spam -- including messages that superficially resemble the hall-pass replies -- from which he must pick out the real hall passes. Each hall pass is sent only once -- if he fails to find it, accidentally deletes it, or fails to get it because his inbox filled up, he doesn't get to do whatever he requested (just like his victims, who suffered the consequences of missing legitimate e-mail).
Spammers should be prosecuted for any fraud and false advertising contained in their messages AND for illicit intrusion into other people's computers.
If necessary, the computer-crime laws should be clarified to make it explicit that evasion of spam filters is no different from any other form of unauthorized "cracking" of computer security. (IMO, the laws are in place already -- both spam-filter evasion and black-hat cracking are clearly deliberate attempts to defeat a security measure designed to keep out unauthorized intrusion into private property -- but they haven't been properly enforced against the former.)
IDIOT.
It is not "Free Speech" if the recipient has to PAY for it.
Spam for hire, despite what spammers (who lie) say, has nothing to do with Free Speech. This old argument has been failing for years. Wallace tried it with Cyberpromo.
Impale the scumbag.
"I rather like a proposal I once heard for an appropriate punishment for spamming ....."
Perfect!
Or super-glue his fingers to the computer keyboard!
Another common sense court decision.
What's this country coming to?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.