Virginia Arrests Man For Spamming

volpe writes "According to this Yahoo news story, Virginia arrested a North Carolina man for spamming in violation of a new state law. He was arrested Thursday afternoon in Raleigh, NC. The story is pretty fresh, so the news details are still pretty thin."

Sic Semper Spammeris

[sulli]

I demand a spear through the heart! [state.va.us] (Delivered by a bare breasted maiden, of course.)

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[cayenne8]

I hate spam as much as the rest you, but, something strikes me weird.

I thought that interstate commerce could not be interfered with by states...that only the Feds could do this. The line in the article saying so much traffic goes through Virginia....Well, if this guy was sending email trying to sell a product....wouldn't this Virginia law violate the 'freedom' of interstate commerce?

I like to see spam killed, but, wondering if this is a loophole until closed by Fed. law in the US?

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[pyros]

Not if the originating servers were located in Virginia. Many spammers are located in the U.S., but use offshore servers, so they are not entirely in violation of local law. That's why I maintain a legal solution will never work, only a global technological effort to deny spammers the resources.

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[tonythepony]

This is not at all the reason. Current constitutional law will allow the federal government to generally regulate commercial activity under the enumerated power of interstate commerce even if the activity itself didn't cross state lines (which in this case it does anyway) - if the activity itself can have a substantial effect on interstate commerce its fair game (and pretty much anything has a substantial effect - the courts won't strike it down if its a commercial activity).

The question here will be whet

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[Frymaster]

you know what strikes me as weird?

that the virginia state gov't can put this guy away for twenty years for this. twenty years! isn't this a bit drastic? hell, draconian?

sure, we all hate spam but, really, it's just a minor annoyance (and don't give me this bandwidth-usage argument... all the spam you receive in a year doesn't equal the divx of return of the king your boosting of kazaa right now) and 20 years is a bit of an over reaction.

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[Sylver Dragon]

Well, techinically, the maximum sentance would be 20 years. He is, afterall, being charged on four separate violations, each carrying a 1 to 5 year sentance. So he could be out in as little as 4 years, assuming he is found guilty on all 4 charges. Not to mention that, with good behaviour, parole, etc, he'll probably be out in 1 to 2. The 20 year figure, is really just an outside number, its not likely, but is created because of the multipul counts against him. Not to mention that the district attorney is probably doing a standard, throw every possible thing at them, and see what sticks. Relax, its not as bad as the quick blurb made it out to be.

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[SethJohnson]

Some people are also making this observation about our current

federal sentencing guidelines [drugpolicy.org] for drug posession. Taking a ride in a car that contains some substance could give you the same trip to jail this spammer is looking at.

Re:Better than the alternative punishment....

[sunwukong]

Nothing worse that 10,000 nerds carrying a grudge for the rest of your life. You might as well just drop out of society completely.

At least you'll have 10,000 people to keep you company.

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[BTWR]

You're like the ACLU guys who defend NAMBLA. They whine that "these guys should be allowed to have their website which specifically states ways to lure young boys to you and has detailed tips on sex acts with them." Now, I'm ok with Nazis marching with their hate speech as long as it's not actively threatening (note: I'm Jewish), but when someone like these NAMBLA guys are actively promoting harm to people, and these spammers who are also causing finite damage (albeit at a much different level - I'm not s

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[coolgeek]

I think you missed the part of the article that says "These criminals are harming businesses in Virginia, and that concerns us,"

I think though 20 years is a bit extreme. I don't think he'll get all 20. 20 is probably a good place to start bargaining, he can probably plea it down to 3 or 4, which IMO is appropriate. Somehow though, I don't think this will put a dent in the 100's I of spam I get every day.

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[Rick the Red]

Relax. This and all other state anti-spam laws are void as of Jan. 1 (I believe; I don't know for sure, but it's soon) when the new federal law takes effect.

States, nail 'em while you can! Individuals, sue 'em while you can! (the fed. law prohibits individuals from sueing spammers -- gotta love the GOP)

Re:Sic Semper Spammeris

[omarius]

That's no maiden, that's the Greek goddess of valor [netstate.com], you insensitive clod.

Good

[mpost4]

This spam problem is getting out of control, I am glad that some one is trying, but the problem is that the spammers will probably move out of the country.

Re:Good

[adamruck]

I dont get what all of the fuss is about, I have had the same email account for 5 years and have never had an issue with spam. What are you people doing that spam is such a big issue for you?

your right though, only a change in protocol will stop spammers, making laws in the us will just mean that spammers route mail through non us servers.

Re:Good

[mpost4]

What am I doing, I work at CMU, and I have one address I never gave to any one, here (my andrew account) and I get 30 spams a day, and I never told any one about this address ( it is to the point I don't check it)

What happend is it got listed on CMU's directory, and that what happend. My main work email ( @cs.cmu.edu ) is also listed is a directory too.

Re:Good

[StarOwl]

Once upon a time, before the days of perpetual September, it was fun to participate in online discussions as yourself. With no need for munged addresses, some discussions could be taken to email, from which friendships could grow.

Now, that's all still possible, but a lot of the fun is gone given how defensive you have to be unless you want to have a mailbox full of spam.

I've had my primary email address for over 10 years now, and one of my secondary addresses is approaching 15 years old. If it werent fo

Re:Good

[pyros]

All it takes is having your address listed in plain text on a web page and it will likely be spider'ed into a list. If you post to newsgroups or archives mailing lists, be sure not to have it in your signature, even putting a single space somewhere in it should be enought to counter the bots. Studies have shown that this is the most common way that adresses are obtained. Although that was before they started using viruses to harvest the MS Address Books of all the windows users.

Re:Good

[AnonymousNoMore]

What are you people doing that spam is such a big issue for you?

Signup for email lists that have archives online with member email addresses visible. Sign up for any account on any board and fail to check the "do not sell my name" box, or do check it, it does not matter. The problem is that once your email address gets on the list that gets sold and resold, you are hosed. I don't get alot of SPAM, but I get alot more than I did. And I know it's because of a couple of publicly available list archives

Re:Good

[Jjeff1]

I at a k-12 school. Over 70% of our incoming email is spam. One user went on a 6 month sabatical and came back to find 35,000 spams in his inbox. But more important than the storage, bandwidth and PITA issues with spam is the content. In a sue-happy world you simply cannot have teachers in a classroom using email when it might contain porn, racist humor or anything else you wouldn't want a 6 year old to see.

Re:Good

[[e-mail]]

This spam problem is getting out of control, I am glad that some one is trying, but the problem is that the spammers will probably move out of the country.

Which will make it much easier for us to refuse those email links.

Re:Good

[BTWR]

the problem is that the spammers will probably move out of the country.

Well, I don't know the exact wording of the Virginia Law (yes I did RTFA), but perhaps it can be applied (or perhaps ammended) to allow arresting spammers from that state who hired spam services in another country.

After all, if you buy drugs mailed-to-you from Amsterdam, YOU will be arrrested, even though the feds will have no authority to arrest the guy in Holland. So perhaps utilizing a foreign illegal service while in that stat

2 Words: Cruise Missle.

[simetra]

Thanks.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Good

[mpost4]

but there is not commity between all countries, so how do we deal with the spammers in the countries that don't have commity with us.

Jurisdiction?

[junkymailbox]

Although based in North Carolina, Virginia is asserting jurisdiction over Jaynes because he sent messages through computers located in the state.

Roughly 50 percent of the world's Internet traffic passes through Virginia, home to big Internet companies like Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX - news) American Online unit and MCI (Other OTC:WCOEQ - news).

I like this new so called 'state' law.
Prosecutor: Your spam is illegal. You'll be prosecuted in all 50 states and more on different state crimes since your email traveled through all 50 states.

Hmm .. on second thought .. this might not be such a good thing for people who actually send emails.

Prosecutor: Your email allows us to prosecute u at least 50 times minimum.

Re:Jurisdiction?

[adamruck]

im all for spammers taking a tour of federal pound me in the ass prison.... in all 50 states

Re:Jurisdiction?

[t0qer]

im all for spammers taking a tour of federal pound me in the ass prison.... in all 50 states

You have state and Federal prisons mixed up. It's state prisons you get your ass pounded.

I have a friend who's dad stayed in a fed pen for diamond smuggling (same friends dad who was a spammer, look at my old comments)

This is a second hand account from the dad, but apparently the fed prison in california is nicknamed "Club Fed" because they have it so easy there. He told us that he was allowed to wear his own c

Nope, double jeapordy still applies...

[raehl]

You can't be prosecuted more than once for the same act, regardless of how many states claim jurisdiction.

Re:Jurisdiction?

[The Only Druid]

You cannot be prosecuted more than once in the United states for a single crime, period, no matter how many jurisdictions you entered/exited in doing that crime. When a crime crosses state lines, one of two things can happen: the states' prosecutors can agree which state will prosecute the crime (or alternately, the judge in a given state may demand that the crime not be tried there, because of bias or some such reason), or it can become a Federal case.

This is a good thing.

Re:Jurisdiction?

[junkymailbox]

But each spam sent can be tried a different crime ..

Re:Jurisdiction?

[The Only Druid]

Yes, each spam can be tried as a seperate crime, because each [instance of] spam is a seperate crime. However, the grandparent poster (i.e. the poster whom I was replying to originally) was saying that a single instance would expose you to a "minimum" of 50 prosecutions, which is absurd.

The point of this type of law - similar to the law arround which the No-Call-List is based - is that you make each individual offense a crime/fine of a certain value, relying on the fact that such spammers [of both email

The real issue:

[Ayanami Rei]

Your email travels through lots of routers in lots states during it's delivery. So who gets to prosecute? The state with the most stringent anti-spam measures, I would assume. But making this sort of distinction sets precedence for things OTHER than spam: for example decency/access laws w.r.t. adult materials.
And at some point in the future, this may extend to deciding who gets to levy state taxes on an electronic purchase. Buyer's state? Business's state? Location of the webserver? Warehosue? They may point to this case and say: in the course of an Interstate transaction, computers critical to the transaction completing in XYZ state are enabling commerce, and thus the transaction is subject to XYZ state's tax laws.

Once you start recognizing the computers in-between the end points of a transaction, you open yourself up to all sorts of state legislation designed to take advantage of internet traffic.

This may be a little premature an assessment, however, because the article doesn't say whether or not the spammer spammed AOL customers, in which case it's a direct offense on a business located in VA... this does not set precedence because if that were the case, AOL would be the endpoint of the spamming (regardless of whether the spammee is in another state as well, having yet to download it). For all we know, the filters caught the spam, it never reached the customers, and AOL reported it to the police.

Spam

[tds67]

Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said Jeremy Jaynes had been arrested earlier Thursday in Raleigh, N.C., on four counts of using fraudulent means to transmit spam

Kilgore was later heard to say, "I love the smell of spam in the morning!".

Interesting stat about Virginia

[Anonymous Coward]

There's an interesting stat about Virginia, and why their anti-spam law seems to be more important than other states laws. 50% of internet traffic flows through the state, thanks to MCI and AOL being headquartered there.

They are right in saying that spam is harming these companies in their state and, strangely enough, have at least tried to do the right thing.

When bending over in shower...

[The_Rippa]

He will inevitably drop the soap and have to bend over to pick it up.

I hope his inmates didn't buy any of his C0mp.le.tely 100 % N.a.T.u.R.a.L. MEN Enhancement!1!1!!!

Re:When bending over in shower...

[skintigh2]

I wonder if he used his own products to end locker room embarassment.

Yay!

[penguinoid]

He could get several years in prison. That'll teach them spammers. I do hope he was a spammer, not an innocent idiot.

Kudos Virginia!

[macdaddy]

...for doing something that they won't legally be able to do in just 2 weeks.

Re:Kudos Virginia!

[Suppafly]

...for doing something that they won't legally be able to do in just 2 weeks.

Why won't they be able to do it in 2 weeks? the upcoming federal law? So what, states are free to make and enforce laws that exceed federal laws.

Yes, Virginia...

[Anonymous Coward]

...there is a Santa Claus! And he listens to Geeks!

Man arrested for spamming

[unixfan]

I think it's great that something is being done about spamming, though I don't think it's a criminal but a civil offense.

Re:Man arrested for spamming

[homer_ca]

These days the professional spammers control an army of trojan infected zombies running proxies that completely anonymize the source and zombies that they use to DDoS Spamhaus. You could track it back one more hop with a honeypot, but that's just one more hop. Sounds pretty criminal to me. Lots of crackers have been sent to prison for less than that.

Re:Man arrested for spamming

[volpe]

I don't think it's a criminal but a civil offense

Do people get arrested for civil offenses? (Real question, not rhetorical.)

Re:Man arrested for spamming

[Hungus]

No they don't they just get sued.

Wording is confusing

[metlin]

Although based in North Carolina, Virginia is asserting jurisdiction over Jaynes because he sent messages through computers located in the state.

So does this mean that any spam passing through any of VA's pipe or VA is liable to be punished?

Or did he send spam to someone at VA? The article is not very clear on that, but it seems likely.

But if its merely because it passed through VA, then whoa! Infinite coolness.

Re:Wording is confusing

[Fjornir]

But if its merely because it passed through VA, then whoa! Infinite coolness.

Be careful what you wish for... What if your p0rn is going 'merely' being 'passed through' VA and happens to be against their laws?

federal case?

[tokengeekgrrl]

From the article:

"Although based in North Carolina, Virginia is asserting jurisdiction over Jaynes because he sent messages through computers located in the state.

Roughly 50 percent of the world's Internet traffic passes through Virginia, home to big Internet companies like Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX - news) American Online unit and MCI (Other OTC:WCOEQ - news)."

So that means he can be charged in federal court, too, since his crime involves multiple states, doesn't it? Or does it have to be shown that his email crossed into multiple states in order to take it to federal court? I would like to see more spammers be tried in federal court because the financial penalties are more significant and injurous than in many states. I would think a case could be made for the intent to damage people in multiple states just by accessing Virginia given its backbone status.

Of course, having a spammer charged in multiple states would be fine, too, just as long as it sticks and he pays for his crime in a way that deters him and others like him (I know, small chance of that).

- tokengeekgrrl

Re:federal case?

[Suppafly]

To be tried in federal court, you have to break a federal law. If all he broke was a VA law, he can only be prosecuted in VA.

Re:federal case?

[geekoid]

Carefull.
What happens when some state inacts a 'no porn' law, and you send a picture of a naked women to your friend, but it happens to get routed through the 'no porn' state?
This is wrong.

Re:federal case?

[pyros]

I'm fairly certain there's enough 1st Amendment case history to ensure that any such 'no porn' law won't stand up being challenged as unConstitutional.

Re:federal case?

[johnnyb]

Actually, this week the Supreme Court basically said that the 1st amendment could be thrown out the Window. The new campaign finance reform law (i.e. - the incumbent protection act) was upheld. Campaigners can't run ads for the 30 days leading up to an election.

Re:federal case?

[johnnyb]

The fact is, if people don't know someone, they are more likely to vote the existing guy, even if he's a schmuck, because they don't know enough to say the other guys are better. Therefore, toward the end of the election is when it counts for people to see a new face. If they haven't seen someone for 30 days, they are just going to go with the guy they know. The way that new guys get in is by keeping their name out there for the last 30 days.

All of the media outlets want this passed, too, because it doesn't place any restrictions on them. Therefore, they have no accountability to facts. If they want to totally smear a candidate, they can, and the candidate can't respond.

In order to correct these failings, they are going to enact legislation to have publicly-funded campaigns. Well, if everyone gets a publicly-funded soapbox, it will cost too much. This will wind up meaning that the government gets to choose the candidates that they will give money, too, making the problem even worse. You may think that I'm just guessing on this paragraph, but in fact it's already being discussed (publicly-funded elections, that is).

We really need to get rid of our supreme court justices and put in people that will uphold the Constitution AS WRITTEN. If you don't like everything in the constitution as it's written, that's fine, that's what the AMENDMENT process is for. The Constitution is a changeable document and does not need the "dynamic interpretation" (that's Sandra O'Connor's word) that the supreme court justices are trying to give it. If you want to change something in there, make an amendment. Don't use the courts to circumvent a well-established process.

You should read Justice Skalia's dissenting opinion.

Re:federal case?

[penguinoid]

Evil plan: send all emails through each state before it arrives at its destination. Then whichever state has the best anti-spam law can blast the hell out of the spammers. I wouldn't mind the increased latency in an email.

Amazing

[pclminion]

I love this part of the article:

officials were in negotiations for the surrender of a second man...

They're negotiating a surrender? Sounds like something I'd see on prime time USA, with a SWAT team and about fifty riflemen with guns trained on a panoramic storefront window. The retard must be shitting in his pants about now...

Come out slowly, with your email headers unforged!

Surrender Suggestions for Spammers

[Tackhead]

> > officials were in negotiations for the surrender of a second man...
>
> They're negotiating a surrender? Sounds like something I'd see on prime time USA, with SWAT team and about fifty riflemen with guns trained on a panoramic storefront window. The retard must be shitting in his pants about now...
>
>Come out slowly, with your email headers unforged!

"Slowly" is not the proper way for a spammer to surrender to law enforcement.

To the "second man[sic -- not a human, actually a spammer]" whose surrender is "under negotation", please disregard the poster's advice.

ATTENTION SPAMMERS: Did you know that if you take a toy gun, and paint over the little fluorescent ring on the end with black paint, or if you dip a water gun in black paint, or if you just carve a potato into the shape of a gun and apply black shoe polish, your surrender can be negotiated much more quickly and efficiently.

Simply opt in to any one of these three easy options, and then run directly towards law enforcement officers while holding your black-colored gun-shaped object. For additional efficiency, scream as loud as you possibly can that you have "just one more free offer to send out" while running towards aforementioned law enforcement officers.

This public service announcement on proper surrender techniques for spammers has been brought to you by the approximately one billion email users of Planet Earth.

You're too generous...

[raehl]

"Simply opt in to any one of these three easy options, and then run directly towards law enforcement officers while holding your black-colored gun-shaped object."

More appropriate:

"We have sent you this replica assault rifle with a 30-day money back gaurantee. Should you keep your replica assault rifle, we will automatically continue your replica assault rifle subscription and another rifle will be sent to you each month.

"Should you not want this specacularly realistic replica assault rifle or any other replica assault rifles from us in the future, you may opt-out of our replica assault rifle deliveries by simply calling the police to your house and carrying the replica assault rifle to them. You may receive a message stating that you are not certified to possess an assault rifle and to stop immediately, but you can ignore this message as it is merely a problem with your local police department's ability to recognize a top-quality replica like ours. This problem will resolve itself automatically as you get closer to the law enforcement officer."

ALL RIGHT!

[JoeLinux]

Maybe if we executed him...publicly...

20 years??

[Anonymous Coward]

I know we all hate and despise spam, but doesn't a possible 20 years in the clink sound a bit excessive?

Seems to me that the punishment should fit the crime - in this case, economic penalties (aka, "big fat fines"), and mandatory loss of Internet access would be more appropriate.

Re:20 years??

[penguinoid]

Yes, the punishment should fit the crime. However, I vote for no crime. Like, if you could face 20 years in jail for sending spam, don't send spam. It's not that hard, is it?

I, for one, welcome our new internet spammer overkills.

Re:20 years??

[rworne]

Fines won't work, but these will (televise them for better effect):

1. Electroshock therapty
2. Injecting vinegar into the testicles
3. Fire ant enema
4. Force them to watch a Roseanne and Anna Nichole lesbo love fest just like in A Clockwork Orange.
5. That rat-in-a-bucket trick they did on 2Fast 2Furious

Cruel and unusual punishment has it's place. Public hangings, burning at the stake, the guillotine and others had a purpose OTHER than punishment of crimes: it served as a warning to others as well.

Threat...

[OneFix at Work]

I think the quote about spam being a major threat to the stability of the internet is taking it a little far. It might be more than a minor annoyance, but I don't think it's actually going to cause major outages/delays in service. All the traffic genrated by one one spam message is less than the amount it generally takes to display 1 web page...

Spam is a problem, but it's not going to bring the internet to its knees anytime soon...

Lynch'm I say...

[Camel Pilot]

Doesn't Virginia have long history of lynching?

Hijacked computer?

[eggoeater]

I'm just waiting for the follow up story on how it was a worm on his computer sending out the spam and he had no idea.
I'd be pissed if my mom got arrested under this law because she didn't have her computer patched and got some spam-worm.
-Steve

Re:Hijacked computer?

[Theaetetus]

I'd be pissed if my mom got arrested under this law because she didn't have her computer patched and got some spam-worm.

Ohhhhhh! So that's why she was emailing me offering viagra discounts. ;)

-T

Re:Hijacked computer?

[BTWR]

interesting idea...

I'll bet all spammers will have some sort of patch put on all their computers so that they can have deniability.

If not that, then some "dead-man's lock" i.e. if they don't enter a certain password/keyclick every 12/24/36 hrs (whatever) then the computer automatically deletes all their spam software and puts a spam-virus on there to make it look like they were innocent (it would definately be a certain amount of hrs before police got around to searching the actual computer)...

Penalties maybe a little too harsh

[Anonymous Coward]

Our Jail Systems are definately overcrowded, and to alleviate the problem some violent criminals are getting released early, too early.

This law will just compound the problem. Does sending spam justify PRISON TIME, i don't think so. They should just put them under house arrest or major community services AND revoke all internet access.

Let the punishment fit the crime.

Loudoun Times Story

[fdiskne1]

Since it was a Loudoun County grand jury who handed down the indictments, Loudoun Times [timescommunity.com] has more details. According to their article:

Kilgore made the announcement at America Online headquarters in Dulles, along with officials from AOL, MCI and UUNet.

The state law makes spam criminal in Virginia if any part of the spam transactions occur in any Virginia locality. Kilgore said the spam in these two cases was sent "through servers located in Virginia."

And while the announcement came in the gleaming AOL headquarters, Kilgore declined to be specific about the location of the servers in Loudoun County or provide further details, citing the coming prosecutions.

Authorities in Raleigh, N.C., obtained a search warrant and arrested Jeremy Jaynes Thursday morning and charged him with four felony counts of using fraudulent means to transmit unsolicited, bulk e-mail in violation of the Virginia's anti-spam law, Kilgore said.

Each felony count carries a punishment of one to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500, or both.

Jaynes also goes by the aliases Jeremy James or Gaven Stubberfield, Kilgore said. The Register of Known Spam Operations lists Stubberfield as the eighth-most prolific spammer on its Web site www.spamhaus.com, according to Kilgore.

The indictment alleges Jaynes sent spam that exceeded 10,000 e-mails per day on three separate days in July, and that he sent more than 100,000 e-mails during a 30-day period in July and August, Kilgore said.

The state law makes it a felony to send unsolicited, bulk e-mail by fraudulent means such as removing the sender information, thus preventing recipients from replying or knowing who sent the e-mail. The spam is illegal if the volume exceeds 10,000 e-mails in 24 hours or 100,000 in 30 days, or if the revenue from the spam exceeds $1,000 or if the total revenue from the spam transmitted to any Internet service provider exceeds $50,000.

Yes, Virginia...

[marnanel]

Although [Jaynes is] based in North Carolina, Virginia is asserting jurisdiction over Jaynes because he sent messages through computers located in the state.

Yeah, him and most everyone else on the east coast [mae.net]. Sounds like a pretty large jurisdiction to me.

AP view of this story.

[jlancaster]

This guy is listed on spamhaus.

http://www.wtop.com/?sid=150989&nid=25

Cool state

[AvantLegion]

>> Virginia arrested a North Carolina man for spamming

What a cool state. When someone sends them spam, the entire state gets up, walks over to a whole different state, and grabs and drags the spammer back, kicking and screaming.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

More Info

[jetkust]

The man arrested, Jeremy Jaynes (aka Gaven Stubberfield, and Jeremy James), was listed as the worlds 8th worst spammer on http://www.spamhaus.org/index.lasso [spamhaus.org]. Spamhaus is a site that tracks the activity of spammers around the world. It also lists USA,China,And South Korea as the worst spamming countries.

I'm crazy or something..

[OutRigged]

I don't know, I might be crazy. When I first looked at the topic of this story, I read it as 'Viagra Arrests Man For Spamming'.

Also Washington Post Article

[shalunov]

Virginia Indicts Two Men On Spam Charges [washingtonpost.com]

Now, just a few more of these, please. At this point the focus should be on those who write spamware and spamming and DDoSing viruses.

What do you mean no death penalty option?

More details

[powerbarr]

There were more details in this article [washingtonpost.com] where the laws they allegedly broke are described. Evidently penalties are up to five years prison and $2500 fines for sending 10,000 messages in 24 hours or 100,000 messages in 30 days.

speaking of details...

[donutz]

The story is pretty fresh, so the news details are still pretty thin

Details? Who needs details! This is Slashdot, just give us a quick blurb and we'll open up the rampant speculation.

Details...Ha!

I hope that routing != prosecutable...

[Kjella]

I hope that the SPAM either originated or was delivered in Virginia (though possibly by zombie machines in Virginia), because you have no control over where something is being routed.

It'd be a very sticky situation if you had to ensure that whatever you did was legal through every jurisdiction that traffic went through. So the line was down and it got routed over Virginia *this week*. Oh fun, new legal statutes to adhere too, wii..

Kjella

Spammers are Terrorists

[Anonymous Coward]

If someone did as much damage to the phone system as spammers are doing to email, they would be labeled terrorists and imprisoned/executed.

Interestingly...

[GillBates0]

Jeremy Jaynes's name appears on the known list of spammers on anti-spam site [whew.com]

They have about 200 other persons/companies listed there. I would think it's easier to track and shut down the companies listed there, as they would have a larger paper trail than individual spammers.

On a side note, I have *never* been bothered by spam on the 2 main accounts I use (except an occasional mail or two). And it's not like my former school/current workplace use any significant anti-spam tools. I guess it's just a matter of giving out your email addresses wisely, and using a couple of honeypot addresses for less important work.

Re:Interestingly...

[Indy1]

yeah that works until someone clueless that you give your email addy to sends you a e-greeting card. Then your fucked.

Story at Wash Post

[EaglesNest]

Also available at Wash Post [washingtonpost.com]

Kilgore's Election Gambit

[waldoj]

It appears, based on the article, that this was the product of work by Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore. I'm pleased that he's enforcing the law, but by way of background, I should point out why he's choosing to enforce this particular law at this particular time.

Our governor, Mark Warner, is a millionaire hundreds of times over, having made his fortune in tech in Northern Virginia. He got elected on the strength of his business and tech expertise. His term is up in two years, and, under Virginia law, he can't run for reelection. So the race is on between Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine and Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, the presumed Democratic and Republican nominees.

As is often the case with vice-anythings, Kaine is forced to live under the shadow of Gov. Warner for the time being, while Kilgore is under the shadow of nobody. Kilgore tends to spend most of his time ensuring that people aren't having sex [washingtontimes.com] (he's working to keep Virginia's ridiculous bedroom laws on the books; sex outside of marriage is illegal, oral sex is illegal, homosexuality is illegal, etc.) and attempting to keep from getting indicted for his role in the recent Republican wiretapping scandal [timesdispatch.com], something that has just been revealed in the past week.

So, Kilgore gets a twofer with this prosecution. Not only is this yet another thing that he can tout on the campaign trail ("Kaine? Tech? Hell, I brought two spammers back from Carolina, hog-tied and all!"), but he's no doubt hoping that this will overshadow, at least for a few precious days, some of the accusations against him for wiretapping charges.

Again, I'm glad to see this law enforced. Virginia's law is badly-written, in the sense that it must be enforced by Commonwealth's Attorneys, and few of them have the slightest concept of how to or desire to do so. It's good that our Attorney General is willing to take the lead in cracking down.

-Waldo Jaquith

50%, Ha try 100%

[rahijada]

Time Warner, AOL, MCI? How about the CIA, Langley, Virginia...Doesn't all Internet traffic flow through there?

Perspective

[maximilln]

I know this isn't going to be a popular opinion with many people but, whether you like it or not, it's the sane opinion.

I hate spam as much as the next guy. Spam is like being harassed by a horsefly when you just want to sit in the boat and go fishing. Spam is a terrible nuisance. That said I don't want to see this guy go to prison unless he was spamming for unsavory things like ridiculously immoral pr0n or predatory pyramid schemes. I just want him, and other people like him, to STOP SENDING SPAM.

At the same time I realize that while it would be nice to let the punishment fit the crime that's not the way our judicial system works. There are no alternative punishments like ensuring that this guy can't own a computer or be associated with marketing organizations. It would be impossible to prevent him from somehow getting back into the same business of spamming people to make money. Our judicial system provides for parole but, unless someone's watching this guy 24-7-365, he'll always be able to get back into the spam market. Aside from a horribly expensive parole system the only thing that we can do with spammers is put them in prison and hope that they don't start running spam rings from the inside (movie: Blood in Blood out).

I just don't know where it all goes anymore.

Money Talks

[bstadil]

One good way to stop Spam is to go after the companies whos product is being offered.

Like these guy's [denounce.com] suing Pfizer the maker of Viagra.

Not true.

[geekoid]

take all there assets, and give them to the local school.
Then make the guy spend weekend cleaning up parks for a year.

Much more resonable for the crime, and it costs the tax payers lee money.

Popularity of anti-spam laws +10!

[erroneus]

The popularity of this news story has just out-weighed various world news issues. Not yet listed as a "Top Story" with many news organizations, this story is hitting with fast and popular approval.

This above all other factors should show Congress and the Senate where the people's opinion about Spam Law resides. Any legislator who sides with "marketers" will find their job in jeopardy.

Americans care MORE about their email than they care about rebuilding Iraq. Listen up Congress and Senate!!

Live Free or Die!

[i_r_sensitive]

Damnit, wrong state...

Rather than 1-5 yearsa prison, why not 10-50 lashes with a frayed floppy cable, all via live webcast.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Yes, Virginia IS a Santa Claus

[fdiskne1]

Very close to what I asked for for Christmas. Actually, what I asked for was:

"Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like one spammer, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other spammers and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is! Hallelujah! Holy Shit! Where's the Tylenol?"

-- (Paraphrased Clark Griswald from "Christmas Vacation")

Now, the question is, "Do they deliver?"

raleigh

[sstory]

I'm happy to live in the city that snatched this asshole. Unfortunately, the federal Can Spam act is going to make many individual spam laws null and void, and replace it with a bad and worthless federal law. If tech people thought congress was capable of making a problem worse, they will certainly see it with spam. When the Can Spam law goes into effect, the spam problem will probably get much worse, unfortunately.

Re:raleigh

[psykocrime]

Unfortunately, the federal Can Spam act is going to make many individual spam laws null and void, and replace it with a bad and worthless federal law.

You're operating under the assumption that the Federal government actually has the power to do that. I'd certainly say that's a debatable point.

Maybe it's time for the States to start getting serious about asserting "states rights" again. Personally, I hope they do, and I hope it starts in North Carolina. Our motto isn't "First in Freedom" for nothing,

Let me guess..

[djupedal]

- Protesting about his First Amendment Rights being squashed
- Abused as a child
- Private conversations were taped without his permission
- Roughed up when arrested
- Evidence was planted
- Friends and family all claim he is 'a really nice guy'


Did I miss anything?

Somethings wrong here

[spiritraveller]

1. Unconstitutional - Dormant Commerce Clause. If a state can't regulate the type of mudflaps used by 18-wheelers on its own freeways, it doesn't make sense that it could prosecute someone who might not even know they were sending email through the state.

If that's not an interference with interstate commerce, I don't know what is.

2. Mens rea - Knowledge/intent of the crime. Most crimes (other than traffic violations) require at least that the accused knew he was doing the facts that make up the crime (not that it IS a crime, only the underlying facts). Here, the crime requires that the email pass through Virginia. How is he supposed to know whether a particular email he sends is passing through Virginia? Even if he is sending it to AOL, he doesn't necessarily know that AOL is in Virginia.

Yet another conflict between fighting spam and preserving our rights.

Re:hi spammer (Re:Somethings wrong here)

[spiritraveller]

Well, of course you know ... if you are "legitimate", then it is all opt-in, right?

Wrong. Whether it is opt-in or not depends on which state's law you apply.

How could you not know what state the person you are sending email to is in?

According to the article, the Virginia statute does not require that you send email to someone in Virginia. It only requires that the email "pass through" a server located in Virginia.

This is something that is completely unpredictable. If this is constitutional, it wo

Re:Haha!

[strictnein]

but where will I go to get mine?

Re:Haha!

[Theaetetus]

... but unfortunately, his new prison "boyfriend" received quite a few of those discounts...

-T

unfortunalty

[geekoid]

you'll end up with a beowulf cluster of bears.

of course, then you can have this conversation
You:"Look at that shit"
friend:"Pooh..the bears name is Pooh."

Honeypots

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of honeypots... :-)

there is one, [aol.com] and it's headquartered in VA.

Re:Please, it's easy to stop getting SPAM

[Anonymous Coward]

A better way is to post to most, if not all the usenet newsgroups. Just put this in a message:

unsubscribe spam (your email address here)