Spam law

The Loudoun Circuit Court in Virginia's 20th. judicial circuit Wednesday handed down guilty verdicts in the nation's 1st. felony spam case. A Leesburg, Va. jury recommended that Jeremy Jaynes be sentenced to nine years in prison, and his sister, Jessica DeGroot, fined $7,500, following grand jury inductments charging them with sending e-mail with fraudulent and untraceable routing information, which had netted them some $24 million, according to Prosecutor Russell McGuire.

Virginia, an epicenter to Internet traffic in this country, is also home to one of the nation's "toughest anti-spam" law, according to legal experts. The federal "Can-Spam" law, which was seen as not applying in this particular case, bars disguising identities & collecting e-mail addresses from the Web, and commercial messages have to include opt-out options. "Can-Spam" also includes a provision which allows individual states pursue criminal charges against spammers.

Thirty-six states have passed "anti-spam" laws in answer to the growing problem not only to individuals, but business as well. Ohio's was approved in August 2002, with Indiana following suit in April 2003. The state of Virginia, as mentioned above, has one of the country's toughest anti-spam laws, approved five years ago in March 1999.

While Kentucky has not enacted any anti-spam legislation as of yet, Kentucky Supreme Court Rule 3.130(7.09)(3), as amended Jan. 2002, requires attorneys who advertise via written, recorded, or electronic means targeted at potential clients to include the words "this is an advertisement" prominently located in each communication. House Bills 314 (2001)
and 64 (2004), both died in session.

In 2003, twenty-one states enacted anti-spam legislation, with five more doing so this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.