Lawyers for a knuckle dragging spammer have issued a constitutional challenge to Virginia state’s anti-spam law.
From Miami Herald:
Virginia’s law banning the massive distribution of junk e-mail is an unconstitutional barrier to free speech, a lawyer for a former spammer told the state’s highest court Wednesday.
Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh, N.C., was considered among the top 10 spammers in the world when he was charged in 2003 in the nation’s first felony case against illegal spamming. He was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Prosecutors said Jaynes, using aliases and false Internet addresses, bombarded Web users with junk e-mails peddling sham products and services. He was charged in Virginia because the e-mails went through an AOL server in Loudoun County, where America Online is based.
Almost all 50 states have passed anti-spamming laws.
“There’s absolutely no question spam can be regulated,” Jaynes’ lawyer, Thomas Wolf, told the Virginia Supreme Court. “The problem with Virginia’s statute is that it attaches severe criminal penalties to unsolicited bulk e-mail of a noncommercial nature.”
Noncommercial? Wait a tick. What do the lawyers think are used to deliver all of that spam? Email doesn’t magically just appear at end of the “tubes”. There is infrastructure in place to deliver all of that dreck not to mention the cost to combat the rising tide of spam. I could go on and on here. But, what the hell is the point of sending spam if not for commercial reasons?
Tags: Spam, Spammers, Anti-Spam Laws, Virginia Anti-Spam
