WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (AFP) - A man convicted of violating anti-spam laws by sending out tens of thousands of unsolicited e-mails using fake addresses faces nine years in prison in Virgina, an anti-spam group said Thursday.
The Spamhaus Project, which tracks spam and suspected spammers, said a court in Virginia recommended the sentence for Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh, North Carolina.
The group said Jaynes, who operated using the alias "Gaven Stubberfield," was listed by Spamhaus as the eighth most prolific spammer in the world.
Jaynes' sister, Jessica DeGroot, was also found guilty and fined 7,500 dollars, the group said.
A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski of eVictory Consulting -- also suspected of being involved in "National Wealth Builders" spamming -- was acquitted, Spamhaus said.
The Washington Post reported earlier that Jaynes and DeGroot were the first people in the United States to be convicted on criminal spam charges.
A Loudoun County jury convited to two under Virginia's anti-spam law. Although both Jaynes and DeGroot lived in North Carolina, Virginia asserted jurisdiction because they sent messages through America Online server computers located in the state.
Some surveys suggest spam represented as much as three-fourts of all e-mail traffic, despite laws in several countries seeking to curb unsolicited e-mails.
11/04/2004 19:04 GMT - AFP