Spammer loses appeal

A LANDMARK ruling was handed down Friday by Virginia's Supreme Court as it upheld the felony spamming conviction of Jeremy Jaynes in a split decision.

Jaynes, a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, ran an extensive spam operation that authorities estimated hoovered in up to $750,000 per month, pumping out as many as 10 million junk emails daily. He allegedly used aliases and spoofed IP addresses to harrass email users with unsolicited commercial emails touting fraudulent, non-delivered products and services in a variety of consumer scams.

Charged in Virginia because the spam emails were sent out through an America Online server in Loudoun County, he was convicted in the first ever felony spam prosecution in the USA and sentenced to nine years porridge.

Jaynes appealed claiming that the Virginia antispam statute under which he was convicted violates both the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech and the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution.

But Virginia's Supreme Court disagreed with Jaynes' arguments, ruling four to three that misleading commercial speech is not entitled to protection under the First Amendment and that the antispam statute's effect on interstate commerce is incidental and does not impose an undue burden. µ

L'Inq
Physorg.com