November 6, 2004

Dumb Spam Law!

Spammer Convicted to Nine Years in Prison

The first two spammers ever were convicted of a felony for sending
fraudulent unsolicited commercial e-mail - spam.

Jeremy Jaynes and Jessica DeGroot, a brother and sister team, were convicted in a Virginia court Wednesday of sending AOL users millions of unsolicited commercial e-mail messages while evading AOL's filters. DMNews report that jurors recommended that Jaynes receive nine years in prison and fined DeGroot $7,500.

DeGroot was convicted because prosecutors proved the domain names used for sending the spam had been purchased on her credit card. A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted of similar charges. Formal sentencing has been set for February next year.

Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore called the convictions a victory in the fight against spam.

"This is a major victory for Virginians and all Americans," Kilgore said. "Spam is a nuisance to millions of Americans, but it is also a major problem for businesses large and small because the thousands of unwanted e-mails create havoc as they attempt to conduct commerce."

Jaynes and DeGroot were spamming AOL members with get rich opportunities and work from home offers such as being a

'FedEx refund processor,'

which they claimed would allow people to earn $75 an hour working from home. According to evidence, Jaynes received 10,000 credit card orders, each for $39.95, during a one month period. Instead of this spammer sitting at home stuffing FedEx envelopes, he'll probably be behind bars next year, where he belongs. Hopefully, with no access to a computer.

15dn note:

We detest spam as much as the next person. But once again over zealous prosecutors passed a ridiculous sentence for first time offenders, i.e. nine years! Get that, NINE YEARS!

Murderers and rapists get less time than that! So much for fairness
in Amerika eh!

Mark...

Posted by Mark at November 6, 2004 10:30 AM

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