| Have you ever wondered just what sort of person | | | | a tiny fraction of replies were received from the |
| sends spam? What type of person can nonchalantly | | | | millions of messages he sent, it is estimated the |
| annoy thousands of people every day and what is the | | | | business earned him in the vicinity of $750,000 per |
| gain for them? One of the biggest problems with | | | | month. Reports of the fortune he gathered during his |
| spam is that it is a faceless crime - from both sides. | | | | period of activity estimate his spamming activities to |
| To the spammer he has millions of faceless victims, he | | | | have gained him some $24 million. |
| doesn't really think of the millions of addresses he | | | | Regretably this was enough to buy a very good |
| spams as people, and he doesn't consider the | | | | defense team which successfully reduced the 15 year |
| aggravation his spamming causes. But it is also | | | | sentence sought by the prosecution, and take the trial |
| relatively faceless for us - the victim. We get upset at | | | | through a lengthy appeals process. it wasn't until |
| spam, but don't make the next step to being upset at | | | | September 6 2005 that the appeals court finally upheld |
| the spammer. This is perhaps a telling sign at how | | | | the original sentence. |
| much we have come to accept spam as something | | | | To be successful against spammers more examples |
| that just happens. In this article I will discuss one of the | | | | need to be made of those who are caught. 9 years in |
| most public cases made against a spammer in recent | | | | jail is a significant start, but asset seizure and other |
| times. | | | | methods need to be established. At least in those |
| The spammer being convicted was Jeremy Jaynes. | | | | countries who have decided not to tolerate spam, the |
| During the time he operated Jaynes was said to have | | | | punishment for those convicted needs to be severe. |
| sent hundreds of thousands of messages per day | | | | Even if a spammer loses 9 years of their life behind |
| using T1 internet connections based in Virginia USA. | | | | bars (and let's face it, good behaviour and all he'll be |
| The mail lists he used were said to have been stolen | | | | out in 2) the feeling of vindication for spam victims is |
| from high profile sites such as AOL and Ebay, and | | | | somewhat reduced if they leave jail to return to their |
| targetted American webizens. | | | | multi-million dollar spam-gained fortunes. This will be a |
| Although he was a resident of North carolina, he was | | | | start in defeating spam, but the majority of spam |
| charged and tried in leesburg, Virginia, as he used | | | | messages originate from servers outside the US - |
| servers in that state. He was charged alongside his | | | | China, Ukraine and Russia being the biggest offenders. |
| sister Jessica DeGroot and Richard Rutkowski. | | | | Thus to make significant headway against the spam |
| Rutkowski was found innocent, DeGroot was fined | | | | problem not only should countries such as the USA be |
| $7500, which was later overturned, but Jaynes was | | | | strong in their stand against spammers, but they need |
| imprisoned for 9 years. | | | | to encourage the known problem countries to take the |
| Jaynes emails promoted primarily work at home | | | | same stance. |
| schemes selling in the area of $40 each, and while only | | | | |