Worlds first spam felony conviction upheld
Mikey 5 comments
A US court has upheld the worlds first felony conviction for spamming. Jeremy Jaynes will be the first person in history to be sent to prison for the felony and will serve 9 years for sending millions of spam emails over a 2 month period.
During his defence, Lawyers argued that "a provision of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act violates constitutional First Amendment rights to 'anonymous speech,' as well as the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution." The court disagreed.
As much as I hate spam, and I believe spammers should be punished, I feel 9 years a little harsh for a spam effort that by comparison to others hardly made a dent. It sounds almost as if they were charging him with potential future spam crimes. In any event, another spammer bites the dust.
Source: Ars Technica.
Ben
Tuesday 4th March 2008 | 04:00 PMKeep in mind that in some parts of the US, rape gets you only two years. Kind of puts the whole thing in perspective doesn't it?
Hi Ben. I though the exact same thing and nearly mentioned it in the post but thought best to save that for another topic. I find crimes that involve money usually get the higher punishment which is a sad reflection on the system.
Jim- Just a Guy
Tuesday 4th March 2008 | 04:58 PMThe sad truth is the reason behind that. There is more room available in the white collar crime prisons. That is the horrible inexcusable truth. I wish it was different but It is what it is.
Kim OJ
Tuesday 4th March 2008 | 10:24 PM9 years? That is absurd! If all the spam I ever received came from just one person it could never justify even one years imprisonment. They should rather stick them with a hefty fine, maybe in conjunction with a probation.
- I blame the prison industry. Too much money is made on sending people away.
Jim- Just a Guy
Tuesday 4th March 2008 | 10:55 AMIt may be that they wanted to send a message so they hit him hard. I am sure there will be an appeal and possibly a reduced sentence, but again they sent the message out today and spammers just gulped.