The Virginia Supreme Court has upheld the first felony conviction for spam email. Spam is not protected as a constitutional right to free speech. The spammer was convicted to a nine year prison sentence.

“…Prosecutors presented evidence of 53,000 illegal e-mails Jaynes sent over three days in July 2003. But authorities believe he was responsible for spewing 10 million e-mails a day in an enterprise that grossed up to $750,000 per month.”

link: Court upholds prolific spammer’s conviction

This felon was not thinking of exercising his constitutional rights to free speech when these spam emails were being broadcasted. It is to the court’s credit that it recognized a planned, malevolent scheme for profit and did not let lawyers invoke constitutional protection for this electronic trash.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster