Virginia spam ban overturned

The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, the press and religion. But whoever thought this constitutional provision would apply to spam? Well, it turns out the answer to that question is the Virginia Supreme Court. It ruled last week that the state's anti-spam law designed to prevent the sending of unwanted mass e-mails violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

The ruling came in the case mass emailer Jeremy Jaynes, who was convicted of violating the state law after sending his spam using a false Internet address. The court said the law doesn't make any distinction between types of email or types of speech, and so it was unconstitutional. The right to engage in anonymous speech, particularly anonymous political or religious speech, is protected by the First Amendment, the court ruled.

And by prohibiting false routing information in the dissemination of emails, the court said Virginia's anti-spam law "infringes on that protected right." The ruling does not stop computer users from blocking spam on their own, but it does put a crimp on government's trying to regulate this growing and never ending nuisance. And while the ruling only appeals to the Virginia case, it could have an impact on challenges against spam in other federal courts.

For more on this spam ruling:
- check out this Washington Post article