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| Judge imposes nine-year term for convicted spammer |
| 2005-04-08 |
| LEESBURG, Va. — A man convicted in the nation's first felony prosecution for illegal spamming was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday, but the judge postponed the sentence while the case is appealed. Postponed? Send his ass in and let him appeal from the prone position behind bars Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne said that because the law targeting bulk e-mail distribution is new and raises constitutional questions, it was appropriate to defer the prison time until appeals courts rule. Bah! Jeremy Jaynes was convicted in November for using false Internet addresses to send mass e-mail ads through an AOL server in Loudoun. A jury had recommended the nine-year prison term. Obviously they've gotten spammed and don't like it... Virginia, where AOL is based, prosecuted the case under a law that took effect in 2003 barring people from sending bulk e-mail that is unsolicited and masks its origin. Prosecutors said Jaynes used the Internet to peddle sham products and services such as a "FedEx refund processor." |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #6 gee. thanks, PHIL |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-04-08 8:25:46 PM |
| #5 9 years sounds harsh to me, but then I can make a claim to have originated the predecessor to spam, the junk fax. I wrote a program that dialled numbers and kept a record of those where a fax answered and we then send advertising faxes to them. Worked for a while, and I even made some money out of it. Interestingly, something similar to the 419 scam was even then operating out of Nigeria. However, we never put the two together. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-04-08 8:20:56 PM |
| #4 I formally protest! These people are no felons. They are kind human beings who offer me 25 millions from Nigeria every day, a bigger youknowwhat, a wonderful enhanced sex life! Those free AOL CDs instead littering my mailbox... |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-04-08 8:03:25 PM |
| #3 9 years? 25 would be fair, hard labor! |
| Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-04-08 3:31:11 PM |
| #2 Where are the constitutional questions? This isn't speech; it's theft and fraud. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-04-08 3:07:36 PM |
| #1 I thought Virginia had a death penalty. |
| Posted by: Mike 2005-04-08 3:00:04 PM |