I hope this sticks, send these fucking spammers a message.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7432555/
LEESBURG, Va. - A man convicted in the nation's first felony prosecution for illegal spamming was sentenced to nine years in prison Friday, but the judge postponed the sentence while the case is appealed.
Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne said that because the law targeting bulk e-mail distribution is new and raises constitutional questions, it was appropriate to defer the prison time until appeals courts rule.
Jeremy Jaynes was convicted in November for using false Internet addresses to send mass e-mail ads through an AOL server in Loudoun. Prosecutors said Jaynes sent more than 10,000 spam e-mails over three days in July 2003 from his Raleigh, N.C., area home, using the Internet to peddle sham products and services such as a "FedEx refund processor."
A jury had recommended the nine-year prison term.
Jaynes told the judge that regardless of how the appeal turns out, ?I can guarantee the court I will not be involved in the e-mail marketing business again.?
Lisa Hicks-Thomas, the prosecutor, said she was pleased with the ruling and confident that the law would be upheld on appeal.
?We?re satisfied that the court upheld what 12 citizens of Virginia determined was an appropriate sentence ? nine years in prison,? said Hicks-Thomas.