Once tough Virginia anti-spam officially dies...
Back in 2004, the state of Virginia convicted
Jeremy Jaynes under a then tough new anti-spam law, sentencing him to
nine years in prison for spamming. Jaynes appealed the conviction, arguing that the law, as written, violated his Constitutional free speech rights. Last fall the Virginia Supreme Court
ruled that Jaynes was correct -- and that the specific law violates his (and political and religious organizations) right to free speech (
see ruling). Virginia's Attorney General disagreed with the ruling and hopped to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, though today the highest court in the land
refused to hear the case. Jaynes would celebrate not having to go to prison, if he wasn't already there serving time on an unrelated charge of securities fraud.