Court Confirms Spammer’s Conviction

A divided Virginia Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the conviction of a infamous North Carolinian spammer does not infringe free-speech rights.

Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh, North Carolina was found guilty of huge delivery of junk email, resulting in a nine year prison sentence. Almost all 50 states, including Virginia, presently have anti-spamming laws. The court ruled 4-3 against Jaynes’ claim that the state law violates equally the First Amendment and the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution.

Considered amongst the world’s top 10 spammers in 2003, Jaynes purportedly adopted aliases and bogus Internet addresses to overwhelm Web users with emails soliciting products and services. The court reasoned this practice as deceptive commercial speech, and consequently, does not apply to First Amendment protection.

In spite of prosecutors presenting evidence of 53,000 illegal emails Jaynes sent over three days in July 2003, authorities think he had sent out a shocking 10 million emails a day in a business that grossed up to $750,000 per month. Since the emails were processed through an AOL server in Loudoun County, Jaynes was charged in Virginia.