Judge questions anti-spam law
A federal judge has refused to accept a guilty plea from a former America Online employee accused of selling the Internet provider's customer list to a "spammer," saying he was unsure a crime had been committed.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein stopped a Tuesday hearing at which Jason Smathers was to plead guilty to conspiracy and interstate trafficking of stolen property, saying he had a "technical question" about the alleged crime.
At issue, the judge said, is whether the actions rose to the level required by a new anti-spam law, which states that spam must be not only annoying but deceptive. Spam is the term widely used for unsolicited commercial e-mails, often hawking products to combat sexual dysfunction or promote weight loss. "Everybody has spamsters, but mine is a technical question," the judge said. "I don't think it's deceptive or misleading to the recipient."
