Virginia Anti-Spam Law; FTC Forum on Spam

kiwimate writes "According to this press release, the state of Virginia has just passed a statute making 'the worst, most egregious and fraudulent kinds of spam' legally actionable. And yes, this includes header forging. The article reads like a big AOL PR piece in some places -- the VA governor led the signing at the AOL HQ in Dulles. The story also states this comes on the eve of the first-ever FTC forum on spam in Washington D.C." The FTC also made the insightful discovery that most spam is fraudulent in some fashion.

Comments

Going after header forgers?

[Corvaith]

This is the one that's always gotten me. It's obviously one of the worst possible things in spam. But how do you then track down who happens to be sending it and punish them for it?

Re:Either it's all illegal or the law is wrong

[bgeiger]

I don't mind legitimate advertising. Spam that clearly shows itself as such isn't a problem; I can just delete it without a second thought, like tossing out the fliers in my mailbox.

It's the bullshit that these scumbags pull that bothers me. Header forging is fraud. Making invalid claims is fraud. Sending spam and making it look like legitimate mail is fraud. Spammers should be prosecuted under existing anti-fraud laws.

(And by the way, at least the VA representatives have the balls to address the problem, unlike most states.)

I live in Virginia!

[Tuzy2k]

I hate to say it, but if AOL can throw their weight around to rid me of spam then I'll stop bitching every time I get an AOL cd in the mail :)

I wonder though- is there a place that we could report spam to the virginia prosecutors? Perhaps our state attorney general could setup a spam email and state residents could forward their spam there for the prosecutors to go after :)

Just for Ralsky

[amber_lux]

B: A person is guilty of a Class 6 felony if he commits a violation of subsection A and:
1. The volume of UBE transmitted exceeded 10,000 attempted recipients in any 24-hour period, 100,000 attempted recipients in any 30-day time period, or one million attempted recipients in any one-year time period;

I think Ralsky would get that many bounces in an hour, if he did not forge headers, and hijack mail servers.

Penalty is only $10.00 per email or $25K, whichever is less.

Not enough financial damage to spammers, but it is a start. If the statutory damages were higher, it might have a legitimate claim to being the toughest in the country.

Wind under Thy Wings

Amber

Wow, shocks this Virginian

[mao che minh]

As a lifelong Virginian, I never saw this coming. This state's government is usually so in bed with the money hounds, nothing (and I mean nothing) gets done "legistlative-wise" until some big company lobbies for it.

I forgot that AOL has a huge datacenter up North from here. Hmm.....

Virginia and the Law

[The Ape With No Name]

As a gennilman raised in Vehjenya, I can tell you this, they do not fuck around. Illegal gun: 5 years. Use a firearm in commission of a felony: 5 years on top of 20 years for whatever you did. Simple pot possession: 12 months. Radar detector: fat fine, car searched and mucho points on the license. It goes on and on. The old joke is that Virginia has a law against everything and two laws against most things, and never get busted in a state where the flag has a woman standing on a man's chest wielding a spear.

If any spammers are reading this, let me tell you about the Virginia correctional system. If you are lucky you will go to the big house. If they put you on the farm you are fucked. Most penal farms in Va grow their own food and cut their own fire wood, etc. You will come out tan and fit, my friend. I taught literacy in Wise County at the facility there. No slack for misdemeanors and light felonies. They also operate road gangs (no chains. Work is time off from your sentence with good behavior) with the Boss standing over you with a 12-gauge full of rocksalt if you decide to make like Cool Hand Luke. Also, the Virginia State Police are ruthlessly efficient and will get you. This was the best state to implement anti-spam legislation if we want spammers to hurt.

PS. It is "The Commonwealth of Virginia" not the "State of Virginia." I didn't get my hands whacked with a ruler by Mrs. Underwood to have y'all malign my beloved home with the lowly name of "state."