Progress in fighting spam
Finally a prison sentence that might make these damn spammers re-consider their risk vs. reward analysis.
First Convicted Spammer Gets 9 Years
LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — He was once considered among the top 10 spammers in the world, using the Internet to peddle pornography and sham products and services like the “FedEx refunding processor,” prosecutors say. Convicted in the nation’s first felony case against illegal spamming, Jeremy Jaynes, 30, on Friday was sentenced to nine years in prison for bombarding Internet users with the junk e-mails.
But Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne delayed the start of Jaynes’ prison term while the case is appealed, saying the law is new and raises constitutional questions.
The wishy-washiness of the presiding judge’s comments makes it look as if the spammer will probably go free in the end. They have already let the guy’s cohorts off scott free.
Horne said he might also reconsider the sentence if Jaynes loses the appeal.
“I do not believe a person should go to prison for a law that is invalid,” he said. “There are substantial legal issues that need to be brought before the appellate court.”
Great, another pro-crime judge. His heart just doesn’t seem to be up to the task of giving these spammers the punishment they deserve. Corporations spend a lot of time and money to block spam. In some cases, as much as eighty-five percent of incoming email traffic is filtered as spam. Everyday people suffer a similarly scaled assault. When you consider the spy-ware component of the stuff, the problem is magnified a hundred times due to the risk of malicious code being turned loose on a network.
This guy made his seven hundred thousand bucks a month at the cost of billions to everyone else. A parasite of the worst kind. Nine years sounds about right to me for a first offense.