JURIST - Paper Chase: Spammer sentenced to 9 years for VA felony offense

[JURIST] Judge Thomas Horne of the Virginia Loudoun County Circuit [official website] sentenced a former Internet spammer to nine years in prison Friday for violating a Virginia anti-spam law [statute text] in the first US felony prosecution for sending unsolicited bulk e-mail. Jaynes was indicted [PDF] when investigators discovered that he was sending 10 million e-mails a day through a network of 16 high-speed lines. Such Internet capacity would sufficiently service a 1,000 employee company. Under VA law, sending unsolicited bulk e-mail is only a crime if the sender masks his identity. Jaynes, who defended himself by arguing that the law is an unconstitutional infringement of free speech, was named by prosecutors as one the top 10 spammers in the world. Under the name of "Gaven Stubberfield," Jaynes advertized junk products and pornography which grossed him up to $750,000 per month. Because of the newness of the law and the constitutional issues raised, however, serving of the sentence has been suspended pending appeal. AP has more.

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