Explore the latest news and trends  

Sign up for our weekly security newsletter


Be the first to receive important updates on security





Send

Conviction of First Felony Spam in Virginia Upheld

Bob McDonnell, Attorney General of Virginia, announced on February 29, 2008 that the Supreme Court of Virginia will support the country's first serious criminal-natured SPAM conviction. WHSV published this in news on February 29, 2008.

Jeremy Jaynes from Raleigh, North Carolina, regarded as the worst spammer worldwide, was ranked eighth on The Spamhaus Project's registry of Known Spammer Organizations when he was arrested in November 2004. Jaynes was proved guilty during prosecution in a Loundon County Circuit Court. He was charged with three instances of violating Virginia's anti-spam Act of 2003. This conviction of conducting computer crime involving spamming was the first of its kind, drawing the world's attention.

After the conviction, the jury sentenced the defendant to jail for nine years. But then an appeal followed from the defendant. Later in September 2006, after the Virginia Court of Appeals declared that the Virginia's anti-spam Statute was constitutionally valid, the court supported the conviction. Now Virginia's Supreme Court too has upheld the conviction.

During that time, the Computer Crime Section's prosecutors from AG's office said before the jury, Jaynes who used AOL's private computers in Virginia, illegally promoted his products online to innocent victims worldwide. From this global fraud, Jaynes reaped huge benefits as ill-gotten money with which he bought a mansion together with many houses in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jaynes' crime was marked a felony of order six. Such acts attracts punishment for a misdemeanor of class one or a felony of class six, which involves transmitting spam in excess of 10,000 e-mails within 24 hours, 100,000 in 30 days, or one million over a year. The punishment is also liable if specific spamming generates total revenue exceeding $1,000 or the revenue generated from all types of spam sent to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is in excess of $50,000.

Praising the decision, Bob McDonnell said that it ia an eventful winning of a battle against online crime as spam destroys productivity while clogging mailboxes. Spam is also damaging as it defrauds citizens while putting in danger the online revolution which is very critical for economic prosperity of Virginia. InRich published this in February 2008.

Related article: Campaign Organizers for Obama Looking for Improved Website Security

» SPAMfighter News - 3/10/2008

3 simple steps to update drivers on your Windows PCSlow PC? Optimize your Slow PC with SLOW-PCfighter!Email Cluttered with Spam? Free Spam Filter!

Dear Reader

We are happy to see you are reading our IT Security News.

We do believe, that the foundation for a good work environment starts with fast, secure and high performing computers. If you agree, then you should take a look at our Business Solutions to Spam Filter & Antivirus for even the latest version of Exchange Servers - your colleagues will appreciate it!

Go back to previous page
Next