Virginia Attorney General Seeks Reinstatement of Spam Law

The Virginia Attorney General is petitioning the U.S. Supreme court in an effort to get the state’s anti-spam law reinstated. It was overturned in September by the Virginia Supreme Court. The court deemed it unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment because it prohibited the anonymous sending of bulk mail. They feared the possibility of an individual being prosecuted for sending religious or political emails.

In his petition, Attorney General Bob McDonald argued that the justices based their decision on a hypothetical situation that isn’t likely to happen. That decision led to the conviction of one of the world’s worst spammers being thrown out. Jeremy Jaynes had been first person in the country convicted of a felony for spamming. He allegedly sent close to 10 million emails a day from his home. If the law is reinstated, so will that conviction. His lawyer is not worried:

          Jaynes’ attorney, Thomas M. Wolf, said he doubts the Supreme Court will hear the case because the lower court’s unanimous ruling was so clear-cut and the statute’s constitutional infirmity could be easily cured with an amendment restricting its application to commercial spam.

“As Justice (G. Steven) Agee said in the court’s opinion, if the Federalist Papers were written today and disseminated by e-mail, the sender would be guilty of a felony under Virginia’s anti-spam statute,” Wolf said.

Spam haters take heart. Although his spam conviction was thrown out, Jaynes remains in a federal prison doing time for securities fraud.