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Last week?s Virginia Supreme Court decision (Jaynes v. Commonwealth) to uphold the conviction of Jeremy Jaynes, a North Carolina man arrested for a major spam campaign in 2003, is the first felony conviction for spamming in the United States. Jaynes appealed the decision of the lower court (Fastcase Subscription Required), citing his right to anonymous free speech under the First Amendment and the US Constitution?s section on inter-state commerce (Jaynes committed his crime in North Carolina, but his spam emails disseminated through a server in Virginia). But because Jaynes sent his spam emails from phony email addresses in violation of the Federal CAN SPAM Act, and because the content of his emails was false and misleading, the court ruled that his actions were not protected under the right to free speech. The decision was a close 4-3 split; several of the justices expressed concerns that the language of the Virginia anti-spam legislation may be ?unconstitutionally overbroad.?

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