The Virginia Supreme Court ruled today that its state antispam law was unconstitutional. As part of its ruling, the court overturned the conviction of prolific spammer, Jeremy Jaynes.
The court said Virginia’s spam law amounted to an overly broad prohibition on anonymous free speech.
Jaynes was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to nine years in prison for sending millions of emails. A resident of North Carolina, Jaynes became the first person to be convicted of sending illegal spam in the U.S.
In 2003, Congress passed it own antispam law. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm
Tags: Can-Spam, Free Speech, spam
