A dubious distinction : Spammer sentenced to 9 years in jail

A Virginia judge sentenced "e-mail marketing businessman" Jeremy Jaynes to 9 years in prison on Friday. That make him the nation's first felony prosecution for sending junk e-mail. The case is under appeal (of course), so the sentence is currently postponed pending the result of the appeal. He was prosecuted under Virginia's anti-spam law (which had taken effect two weeks before the trial), states sending unsolicited bulk e-mail itself is not a crime unless the sender masks his identity. Jaynes sent out at least 10 million e-mails a day with the help of 16 high-speed internet connections, and used the alias "Gaven Stubberfield" to send out most of his mail. At the sentencing, Jaynes told the judge regardless of how the appeal turns out, "I can guarantee the court I will not be involved in the e-mail marketing business again." Oh good - I totally believe him, don't you? Regardless, that's one spammer down and 97 million left to send us offers for Viagra and penis enlargement and all that other junk.