Top Spammer Gets 9 Years in Prison

[felix]

A Virginia judge has sentenced spammer Jeremy Jaynes to nine years in prison for sending over 10 million e-mails a day with the aid of 16 broadband lines. Because the case marks the first felony prosecution for spam, however, Judge Thomas Horne postponed the sentence while the ruling is appealed.

Jeremy Jaynes, who was considered one of the top ten spammers in the world by Spamhaus, was found guilty last November and the jury recommended a nine-year prison term. Jaynes' lawyers contended that the Virginia law under which he was prosecuted violated free speech rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Jaynes was accused of grossing up to $750,000 per month with his unsolicited junk e-mail. Because he used aliases when sending the spam, he had violated a new Virginia law designed to help crackdown on spam.

Jurors also convicted Jaynes' sister Jessica DeGroot, but only recommended she receive a $7,500 fine for her part in the operation. Lawyers for the prosecution contended that her involvement went deeper, but lacked solid evidence.

"We're satisfied that the court upheld what 12 citizens of Virginia determined was an appropriate sentence — nine years in prison," said prosecutor Lisa Hicks-Thomas.


source: http://www.betanews.com/article/Top_Spammer_Gets_9_Years_in_Prison/1112983206

I wonder if I got any of his spams ... I still keep on getting so many. :)

[steve.m]

hmm will get out in 5-7 years maybe less. Was grossing 750k a month, and if he was smart stashing it somewhere. I'm debating it. possibly worth it

[plisk3n]

While everyone hates spam, I don't think this person deserved harsh jail time for this. I mean 9 years?!??! I'm sure rapists, drug dealers, theives will do less time than that.

[Headhunter]

While everyone hates spam, I don't think this person deserved harsh jail time for this. I mean 9 years?!??! I'm sure rapists, drug dealers, theives will do less time than that.
I agree, but the way to solve that problem isn't by giving the spammer less jail time; it's to give the serious offenders more.

9 years is a lot (no way he stays in the full 9), but an example had to be set.

[steve.m]

"I'm in for grand theft auto. why you here?"
"spamming"

[plisk3n]

I agree, but the way to solve that problem isn't by giving the spammer less jail time; it's to give the serious offenders more.

9 years is a lot (no way he stays in the full 9), but an example had to be set.

Setting harsh jail terms won't deter spammers at all. It will just end up with people moving their operations off the US shores instead.

Just look at the whole Napster / Music thing, music piracy is even more rampant these days than ever.

[UrbanPoet]

We all know the microsoft is just gonna pay him 200k a year to lead their new Anti-Spam IT team.

[asim99]

i've got a better idea...

while in jail, make him write 'i am sorry for spamming you' letter by hand, addressed to every one in country, and then make him mail it by post

[elty]

If I do it for like a year and I can keep the $$, then i wilkl say the 7 years i sit in jail will probaly worth it

[Gee]

While everyone hates spam, I don't think this person deserved harsh jail time for this. I mean 9 years?!??! I'm sure rapists, drug dealers, theives will do less time than that.

How long do you think he was Spamming before being caught? 16 lines dude.

lets say he only averaged $500k, not $750 per month. Give him a year before he got caught. That is $6 Million dollars.

Do you think you will make $6,000,000 in nine years?

I think he deserves what he got. So do all the millions that received his Spam

[steve.m]

he should have used more of his money for a better lawyer and maybe he could have pulled a martha stewart.

[plisk3n]

How long do you think he was Spamming before being caught? 16 lines dude.

lets say he only averaged $500k, not $750 per month. Give him a year before he got caught. That is $6 Million dollars.

Do you think you will make $6,000,000 in nine years?

I think he deserves what he got. So do all the millions that received his Spam

So you're going to prosecute him for making millions? What's so wrong with that? Yeah people get annoyed with the spam, but there are the obivious people out there (0.01%?) that actually buy the crap from spam.

I'm not clear on this, but wasn't he earning his cash before Virginia created that law, and made spam illegal anyways?

[guest10586]

How long do you think he was Spamming before being caught? 16 lines dude.

lets say he only averaged $500k, not $750 per month. Give him a year before he got caught. That is $6 Million dollars.

Do you think you will make $6,000,000 in nine years?

I think he deserves what he got. So do all the millions that received his Spam


9 years of prision is harsh. Its not like he took anything from anyone. Isn't it better to give then receive? :D

I wish I got in on spam...didn't know it was worth so much money. I hate that the internet is so regulated now. The government shouldn't have anything to do with spam. It should be up to the providers to protect us, it is better for business...duh.

What they should make him do is make him write a sorry letter to everyone he spammed...lol :D

[ragin_pyro]

Lol, the dude wouldnt be at bottom of the chain, but hed prolly be round 2nd's or 3rd's.. But **** 6 mil? Thats alot of money, but to me..if I could get 6 mil for 9 years (less I'm sure) It wouldnt be worth it..people knowin u been in jail, missing part of ur life..maybe when I'm 50..lol. I'd quit while I was ahead :cheesygri Dam tho..I woulda prolly quit while I was ahead.

I agree with the above, dont lower bar for spammer, keep same, but raise it for worse crimes..some terms that some criminals serve is ridiculous..u can kill some1 and get less time (sometimes)

[divx]

9 year isn't harsh, spamming makes millions of people miserable

[guest10586]

9 year isn't harsh, spamming makes millions of people miserable


Yeah, it is so threatning... :P

[islandboy_007]

1/3 of his sentence and he'll be elegible for parole

[d_jedi]

And I hope he serves every single day of it.. he deserves it.
Keep in mind many spam e-mails make outright fraudulant claims.. he is no legitimate "businessman".

I guess those who think the sentence is too harsh haven't had an e-mail account rendered entirely USELESS because of spam.

[guest10586]

And I hope he serves every single day of it.. he deserves it.
Keep in mind many spam e-mails make outright fraudulant claims.. he is no legitimate "businessman".

I guess those who think the sentence is too harsh haven't had an e-mail account rendered entirely USELESS because of spam.

I have protection...some filters...but no, i have been around since the internet was text and it hasn't bugged me that much...

Not enough to condem a man to 6+ years of prison....

[Gee]

So you're going to prosecute him for making millions? What's so wrong with that? Yeah people get annoyed with the spam, but there are the obivious people out there (0.01%?) that actually buy the crap from spam.

I'm not clear on this, but wasn't he earning his cash before Virginia created that law, and made spam illegal anyways?

I am not condemming him for making millions. Personally I doubt he made that much money.

But consider this. How many people spend an hour every morning deleteing his Spam? How much time did he steal from these people. How much is that time worth? Even at minimum wage, you are looking at millions of dollars an hour.

Now consider how much he costs the ISPs to distribute his spam. Which now affects all of us. Bandwidth is not free. He slows down the internet with this crap and clogs up servers every where. Imagine an ISP having the same message duplicated to every customer? Costs go up with our subscription fees and now they impose caps to limit the traffic so they can minimize their costs.

Now consider hiring someone to just filter spam, because there are a few variations in spelling for viagra.

I don't know about you. But I am the victim here. I have been using the internet for a long time. Back when we had to use SLIP to log in and there was no issues with privacy and we were able to use our real names.

This idiot can make a million lives miserable by hitting send on an email client. Takes him seconds, but hours for the rest of us to get rid of it.

email is still the prefered way we communicate for business. Can you risk filtering a legitimate email as SPAM? We shouldn't have to and we wouldn't if it weren't for people like this moron.

[7jai]

I think he deserved what he got in a way. I hate junk mail. It's always in my hotmail accounts damn.

[mrmoe]

I hate spam also, but you cant turn the tv or radio on with out ads.

ads (spam ) are everywhere.

[aquariaguy]

I hate spam also, but you cant turn the tv or radio on with out ads.

ads (spam ) are everywhere.


TV/Radio is optional. Don't like it, don't listen/watch. Spam is forced and ****s up our addresses.

[guest10586]

TV/Radio is optional. Don't like it, don't listen/watch. Spam is forced and ****s up our addresses.

Not true. How do you think he harvests your email in the first place? You give it to someone or some website. Hence, partially your fault.

[hyperion]

He deserves more but that's a start.

[guest10586]

He deserves more but that's a start.

Harsh. If this is the way it is you might as well do the full break and enter and murder thing. Its only slighly more time for a whole lot more.

[steve.m]

If i were the judge in the case, i would make him eat spam at every meal for 9 years. that would be poetic justice.

http://www.spamgift.com/images/spamgift/products/6216.jpg
http://www.spamgift.com/images/spamgift/products/6831.jpg

[UrbanPoet]

the scary part is.. 9years is how much a person in Canada does for murder...

[hagbard]

While everyone hates spam, I don't think this person deserved harsh jail time for this. I mean 9 years?!??! I'm sure rapists, drug dealers, theives will do less time than that.

Drug dealers shoudn't do any time. Anyway, he probably won't spend a day in jail.

[jedijome]

Not true. How do you think he harvests your email in the first place? You give it to someone or some website. Hence, partially your fault.

what about the emails that get harvested from online forums or discussion boards? What about people who had their info stolen from a third party (remember that guy at aol selling all those addresses) what about spammers that use random dictionary attacks to produce spam?

i think he deserved everyday he got and i hope they dont parole him early. if you look at the sheer amoun of inconvenience, harm and fraud he is responsible for then he actually deserves a longer prison sentence.

[guest10586]

the scary part is.. 9years is how much a person in Canada does for murder...

...

[divx]

the scary part is.. 9years is how much a person in Canada does for murder...

he should be shot.

I hate spam! think about it, time = gold, my time is worth about $16/h, and every hour I waste on spam I lose $16 worth of time. Some people's time is worth upward $100/h. This guy sent millions of spam, surely have dealt over 15 million dollars in damage.


And according to one of the thread on the person sued ford $15M due to death by not wearing seatbelt. (somehow it was ford's fault too) I thereby conclusion that, in North America, people's live is worth $15M.

WHERE AS the spammer did more than $15M worth of damage, he should be legally executed unless he can afford to compensate everyone who got spammed by him, which is clearly an impossibility.

WHERE AS the spammer was clearly aware of his actions and the law, he continued to spam and now I can't use hotmail effectively due to the anti-spam action by m$ to use picture verifications.

WHERE AS the chances of him actually serving the full 9 years will be unlikely

WHERE AS the chances are, he will continue to spam after he gets out, possibily in another country where the spam law is non-existant.

WHERE AS the jail time will be ineffective and the world needs to make an example of a spammer

I thereby conclude the most logical, morally and ethically suitable way of punishment is as follows.

He should first be beaten, tortured, burned and drowned, then have his arms and legs chopped off, have his body cut into tiny cubes, have his brain sliced, then feed to tiger and lions. Have the whole event displayed on TV, this will definally set an example that the world will not tolerate SPAM.


*Disclaimer, if you think this is too cruel and possibility the representation of american bushism, then just have him shot in the head. An example must be set regardless.


*these are my past email accounts ruined by spam
jun123@yahoo.com
fanjun99@yahoo.com
fanjun99@mailcity.com
fanjun99@lyco.com
fanjun99@hotmail.com
fanjun99@fortunecity.com
my current hotmail account is in the process of converting to gmail due to m$ annoying picture verification, can't use outlook express effectively

Everytime I switch email account it's a pain in the @$$, must notify people to send to the new address and losing tons of important messages in conversion.

[Ohboiya]

I think he deserves what he got. So do all the millions that received his Spam


Agreed.

[Ohboiya]

9 years of prision is harsh. Its not like he took anything from anyone.

SPAM is estimated by various institutes to cost the US economy between $10 billion and $87 billion.

If you don't think that's anything ... kudos to you for your success in life.

http://www.camagazine.com/index.cfm?ci_id=24839&la_id=1

[bfurtado]

I thought for the last 4-5 months that SPAM was on the decline. I haven't received much. I'd go weeks without it, then I realized that OS X's mail App was really good at filtering. I checked the same account via webmail and there were hundreds of messages, taking up MY space. Oooh it just burns me that for three years I have been careful who gets my real e-mail and still somehow they figure it out everytime!!! He got what he deserves, and hopefully there is more to come. We need an international effort on this, even though countries like Nigeria won't participate b/c so much of their economy is based on many of its citizenry and their phishing/spamming income. "I'm a prince, send me your bank account number so i can deposit $50,000,000." Then again, some of the responders should be charged too :)

Brian

[veryhuman]

We all know the microsoft is just gonna pay him 200k a year to lead their new Anti-Spam IT team.

if that happened i'd say he'll still do spamming on the side... 9 million a year (tax free) > 200k

[aquariaguy]

Not true. How do you think he harvests your email in the first place? You give it to someone or some website. Hence, partially your fault.

Well he's still not allowed to send crap to your personal address.
So what about TV/Radio than?

How would you like it if you got a **** load of flyers in the mail everyday at ur house?

[mrmoe]

Yeah and a mail man should be put in jail for spamming my mail box with pizza pizza and mc donalds coupons.

Dont get me wrong, I hate spam. But all spam should be banned. Even telemarketers.

Throw them all in jail.

[pureangst]

I don't see what's the big problem with spam on the email user end; why not just block the spam source domain?

If you're afraid of blocking too much, just turn off those filters and manually block domains rather than individual users. I almost never get junk mail and I'm pretty certain all the email that's addressed to me reaches me.

though, if you know otherwise, please enlighten me!