The Virginia Court of Appeals upheld a state anti-spam law on Tuesday by affirming the conviction of the first person in the US to face prison time for spamming.
Jeremy Jaynes was convicted in November 2004 of sending out bulk emails with disguised origins and being in possession of a stolen database of more than 84 million AOL subscribers' addresses. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Judge James W Haley Jr released an opinion on behalf of a three-judge panel that struck down all of Jaynes' appeal arguments.
The facts of the case were undisputed in the appeal, according to court documents. Rather, Jaynes' attorneys appealed on the grounds that the law used to convict Jaynes was unconstitutionally vague, unconstitutional under the First Amendment and violated the Constitution's Dormant Commerce Clause. The American Civil Liberties Union, Rutherford Institute and US Internet Service Provider Association each filed friend-of-the-court briefs in favour of the appeal.
Jurisdiction was also a matter of dispute: Jaynes' lawyers argued that while the AOL servers Jaynes routed emails through are located in Loudon County, Virginia, the Virginia court lacked jurisdiction because Jaynes sent the emails from his home in North Carolina.
The court disagreed, citing previous cases upholding Virginia's right to charge people in the place where the damage of a crime results, not where it originates.
Virginia state attorney general Bob McDonnell said in a statement: "Online fraud is a costly and serious crime. Today's ruling reinforces Virginia's Anti-Spam Act, and further protects the people of the Commonwealth from identity thieves and cyber criminals."
At the time of his arrest, Jaynes was regarded as the eighth-worst spammer by spam watchdog Spamhaus, the statement added.
中文参考：
美法院支持针对垃圾邮件法
弗吉尼亚州上诉法院维持了针对垃圾邮件的法律)的肯定,因最早在美国监狱面临垃圾时间.
JeremyJaynes被判2004年11月发出的电子邮件,主要来源,是变相的盗窃数据库拥有84多万在线用户的地址. 被判处9年徒刑.
法官詹姆士JamesW代表到场发表意见的三名法官组成的小组,全部作废Jaynes的上诉理由.
事实真相是,不上诉,根据法院文件. 而Jaynes的律师提出上诉的理由,法律是用来判定违宪Jaynes模糊,在不违反宪法第一修正案的潜在贸易条款. 美国公民自由联盟和美国的互联网服务供应商所达各自会朋友-支持向法庭上诉.
管辖权也争:Jaynes的律师说,美国服务器Jaynes改为通过电子邮件位于劳登县,弗吉尼亚州的法院没有管辖权,因为Jaynes发送电子邮件住所北卡罗来纳.
法院不引用以往案例维吉尼亚坚持有权负责地损害人的犯罪结果,而不是原因.
维吉尼亚州检察长麦道尔在一项声明中说:"网络诈骗犯罪是严重代价. 今天的判决使州的反邮件行为,进一步保障人民联邦身份窃贼从电脑罪犯. "
他被捕时,被认为是Jaynes第八最大的垃圾spammer监督Spamhaus的声明说.