Anti-Spam Conviction Is Upheld

[smb]

Anti-Spam Conviction Is Upheld

The Court of Appeals of Virginia upheld yesterday what is believed to be the first conviction in the nation under a state anti-spamming law that makes it a felony to send unsolicited mass e-mails.

A North Carolina man was convicted in Loudoun County two years ago of illegally sending tens of thousands of e-mails to America Online customers. Prosecutors said Jeremy Jaynes flooded the servers at the Internet company's headquarters in Loudoun with bulk e-mail advertisements for computer programs and stock pickers....

Jaynes's attorneys argued in their appeal that the Loudoun court had no jurisdiction over the case because the e-mails were sent from Jaynes's home in North Carolina. The appeal also contended that the anti-spam law restrains the constitutional right of free speech protected under the First Amendment.

But the three-judge panel disagreed, ruling in an opinion written by Judge James W. Haley Jr. that circuit courts have exclusive jurisdiction over felonies committed in their areas. The anti-spam law, Haley said, "prohibits trespassing on private computer networks through intentional misrepresentation, an activity that merits no First Amendment protection."...

[Lowell]

1. Good News.

I'd like to see them catch all these spamming assholes. I get several hundred of these unwanted emails a day. It makes you wonder who these people are sending this crap out. The only positive thing I can say is at least they are not killing any trees with their spam, just wasting electrons.

[Warpy]

2. Yeah, but they're doing it on OUR NICKEL.

It's like telephone solicitors who harass us on a service WE PAY FOR.

We didn't get these services to receive advertisements.

We got these services as ways to communicate with friends and family.

I want to see both telephone and email spamming made illegal.

[smb]

3. The Judge Gets It

The quote from the judge's opinion shows that he recognizes that it isn't a free-speech issue, it's a fraud issue and a theft of other people's property issue.

[flamin lib]

4. It should be simple to end this crap. Fine the companies that

are featured in the spam.

[geek tragedy]

5. I generally oppose the death penalty, but there are times

when I'm tempted to change my mind.