Felony Convictions in First Ever Anti-Spam Prosecution

E-mail is one of the greatest communications inventions ever. And like all inventions, it is subject to abuse, known as “spam.” The Commonwealth of Virginia (the pretentious official name for the state) has an anti-spam law that is counted as the toughest in the country. Jeremy Jaynes, and his sister Jessica DeGroot were convicted Wednesday of violating the law. Mr. Jaynes received 9 years and Ms. DeGroot, who was less culpable according to jurors, received a $7,500 fine. Good.

The defense claimed that the Virginia law is an unconstitutional abridgement on freedom of speech. This journal takes that freedom very seriously, and for criminals to hide behind it merits an extra prison stretch in itself. Under the Virginia law, spam is unwanted e-mail with fraudulent and untraceable routing information. In other words, it is junk data filling up finite space on one’s server. Companies spend millions to keep it out of their systems, undermining profits. The routing information is usually masked because it is done using viruses and other hidden software that effectively hijacks someone else’s computer.

During a 30-day period in the summer of 2003, Jaynes sent out over 100,000 e-mails (more than 3,300 per day) to flog penny stocks, low mortgage rates and software to erase Internet browsing records. Described by prosecutors as a “snake-oil salesman,” he did rather well out of his business – he’s got about $24 million in the bank according to prosecutors. "This was just a case of fraud," said prosecutor Gene Fishel. Fraud is not first-amendment protected speech, and never should be.

Defense lawyer David Oblon told Reuters, "Nine years is absolutely outrageous when you look at what we do to people convicted of crimes like robbery and rape.” The good counselor is full of it. Mr. Jaynes apparently was stealing from people, fraud is armed robbery committed with a pen (or in this case a keyboard). If he had managed to steal $24 million from a bank, nine years would be rather light. And if rapists in America get less than nine years, that doesn’t mean Mr. Jaynes deserves less time in prison, but rather than rapists should get more.

Mr. Jaynes has received his sentence and an appeal will likely follow. He cannot get a more severe sentence, but it can be reduced. One needn’t be dogmatic about nine years. But significant jail time is needed to prevent the internet from becoming less effective and more costly. Prison exists to deal with behavior that society cannot tolerate. Spam isn’t just a nuisance – now, it’s a crime. About time.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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