Gaven Stubberfield – nabbed
One of the world’s most prolific spammers has the distinction of being the first to be charged under Virginia’s antispam law, which went into effect in July.
Jeremy Jaynes, aka Gaven Stubberfield, and his partner Richard Rutowski each face four felony counts of using fraudulent means to transmit unsolicited bulk e-mail, says Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, quoted in an Associated Press report here.
Kilgore’s office launched its investigation into what he described as a massive spamming operation that used the AOL computer network headquartered in the county and through which more than 50% of all Internet traffic across the world passes, says the report. In addition, 1,300 service providers or technology companies are located in northern Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC.
The two – both from North Carolina – were supporting affluent lifestyles, says the AP story
The spam included pitches for penny-picker stock schemes, mortgage interest rate ads and an Internet history eraser.
Jaynes is being held pending a request for extradition and Rutowski, "is expected to surrender to authorities under terms being worked out through his attorney," AP adds.
"According to Kilgore, Virginia has the strongest anti-spam law in the country. While other states can take civil actions, Virginia is the only one that can prosecute spammers for violating specific criminal charges related to the activity."
America’s Can Spam Act establishing the first national standards for sending commercial e-mail apparently needs "technical corrections" in the House before going to President George W. Bush for signature.
Go here for a little background and word of an anti-SPAM app.
