Richard Tafoya
Mar 3rd, 2008, 07:49 PM
Information Week:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901389
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday narrowly upheld the felony conviction of Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh, North Carolina, for illegal spamming, rejecting his claims that falsifying message headers is protected under the First Amendment right of free speech.
As a result of the 4-to-3 vote, Jaynes will serve nine years in prison for sending millions of illegal spamhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/3.gif (http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901389#) messages in 2003, absent an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Spamming itself is not illegal. It is allowed under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm). However, the law prohibits the use of false or misleading message headers and deceptive subject lines. It requires a way to opt-out, a valid postal address, and that the message is identified as an advertisement.
When police searched Jaynes' home, they found a cache of CDs containing 176 million full e-mail addresses and 107 million AOL e-mail addresses, according to the court's ruling.
Virginia prosecutors estimated Jaynes' net worth to be about $24 million. In 2004, when the initial verdict was handed down, prosecutors said Jaynes was earning $500,000 per month from spamming. Jaynes' conviction was the first felony conviction in the U.S. for illegal spamming.
Jaynes was convicted of falsifying message headers and message routing information under the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, which contains prohibitions similar to CAN-SPAM. He appealed his conviction by asserting that his activities were protected by commerce laws and the First Amendment.
The majority of the Virginia Supreme Court justices thought otherwise. They dismissed his First Amendment claim and noted that the burden placed on interstate commerce by banning false message routing information is acceptable.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901389
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday narrowly upheld the felony conviction of Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh, North Carolina, for illegal spamming, rejecting his claims that falsifying message headers is protected under the First Amendment right of free speech.
As a result of the 4-to-3 vote, Jaynes will serve nine years in prison for sending millions of illegal spamhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/3.gif (http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901389#) messages in 2003, absent an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Spamming itself is not illegal. It is allowed under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm). However, the law prohibits the use of false or misleading message headers and deceptive subject lines. It requires a way to opt-out, a valid postal address, and that the message is identified as an advertisement.
When police searched Jaynes' home, they found a cache of CDs containing 176 million full e-mail addresses and 107 million AOL e-mail addresses, according to the court's ruling.
Virginia prosecutors estimated Jaynes' net worth to be about $24 million. In 2004, when the initial verdict was handed down, prosecutors said Jaynes was earning $500,000 per month from spamming. Jaynes' conviction was the first felony conviction in the U.S. for illegal spamming.
Jaynes was convicted of falsifying message headers and message routing information under the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, which contains prohibitions similar to CAN-SPAM. He appealed his conviction by asserting that his activities were protected by commerce laws and the First Amendment.
The majority of the Virginia Supreme Court justices thought otherwise. They dismissed his First Amendment claim and noted that the burden placed on interstate commerce by banning false message routing information is acceptable.