Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I want to live, so I am leaving, says distraught Taslima
KOLKATA: “I can’t take it any more. I will die if I continue to live like this,” Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen said yesterday in a choked voice as she announced her decision to leave India for medical treatment abroad.“I am losing my eyesight, my heart is damaged. I have to survive. I am dying like this. I have to immediately get good treatment because I am not even getting cardiologists here,” Nasreen said over the phone from an undisclosed destination in New Delhi where she has been sheltered by the government.
“Parchina, parchina, parchina (I can’t, I can’t, I can’t),” she said, after meeting foreign ministry officials.
For her own safety, the author has been kept incognito for nearly four months in a place near New Delhi while security restrictions were imposed on her movement even in Kolkata before she was forced out of the city last year following protests.
“For seven months now, I am living like this. I cannot live like this any more,” she said.
India’s foreign ministry in mid-February extended her visa but restrictions on her movements continued as she was kept confined in a “safe house” by the government since she was shunted out of Kolkata on November 21.
“I don’t know where I am going right now and when. An airline ticket can be purchased online anytime. But I am finally leaving so that I can survive. Whatever damage has been caused has been caused. I have to get treatment now to just be alive and save the rest of me,” she said.
“I want to come back to Kolkata - my home - if I am allowed and not put in prison like this again. Right now my only concern is to live and get proper medical attention,” said Nasreen who recently spent a few days in New Delhi hospital.
“Stress and hypertension is killing me. There is already a big damage to my heart. I need to save the rest,” she said.
“My world is in Kolkata. I have not been allowed to visit the city and collect my own belongings. I hope my friends in Kolkata would help me since I am not allowed to go there,” she said.
Nasreen was living in Kolkata since 2004 after she was forced to leave Bangladesh.
She earlier said: “I am myself surprised that I am living like this. My only hope is that one day I will be able to return to Kolkata where I have set up a home over the years. But that is like hoping against hope going by the developments.
“I am pretty confused about the government’s objective. What purpose would it serve if I live like this?” she asked.
A section of intellectuals continue to mobilise support for the writer whose fearless expressions on the state of women in Muslim society and the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh antagonised clerics and governments, forcing her to live in exile and under heavy security since the 1990s.
The international community and leading Indian intellectuals are campaigning for Nasreen’s freedom and Indian citizenship for her. But the government has been unmoved so far.
Nasreen, who was recently conferred the Prix Simone de Beauvoir by the French government for her writing, was not allowed to receive the award in person from French President Nicolas Sarkozy when he visited India in January.
West Bengal’s ruling Left Front shunted out Nasreen last year after street violence in Kolkata over her extended stay in India.
Nasreen, who was already living confined in a Kolkata apartment, was taken first to Jaipur and then to New Delhi by the central government and has since been kept in a safe house.
In an earlier interview, the 45-year-old author had said impassionedly: “I am only breathing. I don’t think I am alive like you are. Can anybody live like this? It was beyond my imagination that in a secular democracy like India, such a thing could happen to a writer.”
On November 30, Nasreen had agreed to expunge controversial portions from her autobiography “Dwikhandita” (Split in Two).
Though Jyoti Basu, the patriarch of the state’s ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), said in December that Nasreen was welcome to return to Kolkata, the Left Front government has chosen to remain silent on her plight, keeping Muslim sentiments in mind.
In a delicate balancing act, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has promised to “shelter” Nasreen but urged her to “refrain from activities and expressions” that may hurt the sentiments of Indian people and harm relations with friendly countries. – Indo-Asian News Service
Friday, March 14, 2008
Is China's Great Wall Visible from Space?
Though it stretches for some 4,500 miles, the ancient Chinese fortification is not as visible from orbit as modern desert roads
Choose a legend: The Great Wall of China is the one of the few man-made structures visible from orbit. Or, more remarkably, it's the only human artifact on Earth visible from the moon. Both are false, say astronauts and remote-sensing specialists. Although the Great Wall spans some 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers), it's constructed from materials that make it difficult to discern from space.
The unglamorous truth is that the wall is only visible from low orbit under a specific set of weather and lighting conditions. And many other structures that are less spectacular from an earthly vantage point—desert roads, for example—appear more prominent from an orbital perspective.
Misinformation about the barrier's visibility dates back decades. A 1932 Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon claimed that the wall is "the mightiest work of man, the only one that would be visible to the human eye from the moon." The belief persisted into the Space Age. Since Neil Armstrong returned from the moon in 1969, he has been repeatedly asked whether he could see it.
His answer was relayed in a recent NASA Johnson Space Center oral history: He saw continents, lakes and splotches of white on blue. But he could not make out any man-made structures from the lunar surface, which averages a distance of 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) from Earth.
So just how visible is the Great Wall from low Earth orbit, at an altitude that begins around 100 miles (160 kilometers) up? Not very. Although sections near Beijing, China's capital, have been restored for tourists, in many areas the structure is crumbling. Where it still stands, the wall's mixture of stone and clay blends into the surrounding land.
"I have spent a lot of time looking at the Earth from space, including numerous flights over China, and I never saw the wall," asserts former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, who flew on five space shuttle missions from 1985 to 1996. "The problem is that the human eye is most sensitive to contrast, and the color of the wall is not that different from the ground on either side of it."
Hoffman, now an aerospace engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, failed to make out the Egyptian pyramids for the same reason. But he could identify roads, airport runways and irrigation ditches simply because they stood out in their environments.
Some U.S. astronauts, notably Eugene Cernan and Ed Lu, have said they've seen the wall from low orbit. But it tends to show up only in certain lighting conditions. When the sun is low on the horizon, for example, the wall casts extended shadows that make it possible to discern its silhouette.
In 2004 American astronaut Leroy Chiao snapped a photo from the International Space Station of a swath of Inner Mongolia, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Beijing, while the sun's angle was favorable. NASA experts later confirmed that the photo appears to show the wall. But Chiao admitted that he wasn't sure what he was seeing from space.
Machines can do a better job. Low-orbit satellites have sensors that can penetrate through haze and clouds, making it easier for them to produce clear images. But, as with the naked eye, identifying the wall is hardly a guarantee.
Moderate-resolution satellites, like the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) two operating Landsat land observation satellites that orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth's surface, can typically only pick up the structure under specific weather conditions, says Ronald Beck, program information specialist with the USGS's Land Remote Sensing Program. "We have satellite images where snow covers the fields near the wall and snow has been cleared on the wall, and that allows us to see the wall," Beck says. "The key is contrast."
Often, identifying the rampart in satellite images requires a degree of sleuth work. In populated areas, Beck says, USGS scientists pinpoint sections of the wall by looking for parking lots and pathways. In more remote areas, they may scan for breaks in the vegetation surrounding the structure. But those techniques are hardly foolproof; at many points, the vegetation grows up and over the wall.
For the Chinese, the wall's visibility from space has long been a point of pride. When "taikonaut" Yang Liwei, China's first man in space, returned from the 14-orbit Shenzhou 5 mission in 2003 and admitted to reporters that he had not seen the Great Wall, online forums exploded with disappointment. The Ministry of Education even moved to revise its elementary school textbooks, which had long claimed the ancient barricade was visible.
Since then, a debate has raged in China, with scholars grasping at evidence that might settle the question of how great the wall really is. Chinese Academy of the Sciences Institute of Remote Sensing Application professor Wei Chengjie, who appeared on a national television special devoted to the issue in 2006, says more research is needed. "We need to carry out more tests and improve astronaut training. Some astronauts have said that they didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. A shuttle passes by so quickly."
In the meantime, however, China's search for clarity is coming up against a modern complication. As the country industrializes and its factories belch out noxious gases, the wall further fades from view. "The biggest problem nowadays is the pall of pollution which exists over much of China," Hoffman says. "It effectively makes it impossible to see almost anything."
Choose a legend: The Great Wall of China is the one of the few man-made structures visible from orbit. Or, more remarkably, it's the only human artifact on Earth visible from the moon. Both are false, say astronauts and remote-sensing specialists. Although the Great Wall spans some 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers), it's constructed from materials that make it difficult to discern from space.
The unglamorous truth is that the wall is only visible from low orbit under a specific set of weather and lighting conditions. And many other structures that are less spectacular from an earthly vantage point—desert roads, for example—appear more prominent from an orbital perspective.
Misinformation about the barrier's visibility dates back decades. A 1932 Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon claimed that the wall is "the mightiest work of man, the only one that would be visible to the human eye from the moon." The belief persisted into the Space Age. Since Neil Armstrong returned from the moon in 1969, he has been repeatedly asked whether he could see it.
His answer was relayed in a recent NASA Johnson Space Center oral history: He saw continents, lakes and splotches of white on blue. But he could not make out any man-made structures from the lunar surface, which averages a distance of 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) from Earth.
So just how visible is the Great Wall from low Earth orbit, at an altitude that begins around 100 miles (160 kilometers) up? Not very. Although sections near Beijing, China's capital, have been restored for tourists, in many areas the structure is crumbling. Where it still stands, the wall's mixture of stone and clay blends into the surrounding land.
"I have spent a lot of time looking at the Earth from space, including numerous flights over China, and I never saw the wall," asserts former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, who flew on five space shuttle missions from 1985 to 1996. "The problem is that the human eye is most sensitive to contrast, and the color of the wall is not that different from the ground on either side of it."
Hoffman, now an aerospace engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, failed to make out the Egyptian pyramids for the same reason. But he could identify roads, airport runways and irrigation ditches simply because they stood out in their environments.
Some U.S. astronauts, notably Eugene Cernan and Ed Lu, have said they've seen the wall from low orbit. But it tends to show up only in certain lighting conditions. When the sun is low on the horizon, for example, the wall casts extended shadows that make it possible to discern its silhouette.
In 2004 American astronaut Leroy Chiao snapped a photo from the International Space Station of a swath of Inner Mongolia, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Beijing, while the sun's angle was favorable. NASA experts later confirmed that the photo appears to show the wall. But Chiao admitted that he wasn't sure what he was seeing from space.
Machines can do a better job. Low-orbit satellites have sensors that can penetrate through haze and clouds, making it easier for them to produce clear images. But, as with the naked eye, identifying the wall is hardly a guarantee.
Moderate-resolution satellites, like the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) two operating Landsat land observation satellites that orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth's surface, can typically only pick up the structure under specific weather conditions, says Ronald Beck, program information specialist with the USGS's Land Remote Sensing Program. "We have satellite images where snow covers the fields near the wall and snow has been cleared on the wall, and that allows us to see the wall," Beck says. "The key is contrast."
Often, identifying the rampart in satellite images requires a degree of sleuth work. In populated areas, Beck says, USGS scientists pinpoint sections of the wall by looking for parking lots and pathways. In more remote areas, they may scan for breaks in the vegetation surrounding the structure. But those techniques are hardly foolproof; at many points, the vegetation grows up and over the wall.
For the Chinese, the wall's visibility from space has long been a point of pride. When "taikonaut" Yang Liwei, China's first man in space, returned from the 14-orbit Shenzhou 5 mission in 2003 and admitted to reporters that he had not seen the Great Wall, online forums exploded with disappointment. The Ministry of Education even moved to revise its elementary school textbooks, which had long claimed the ancient barricade was visible.
Since then, a debate has raged in China, with scholars grasping at evidence that might settle the question of how great the wall really is. Chinese Academy of the Sciences Institute of Remote Sensing Application professor Wei Chengjie, who appeared on a national television special devoted to the issue in 2006, says more research is needed. "We need to carry out more tests and improve astronaut training. Some astronauts have said that they didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. A shuttle passes by so quickly."
In the meantime, however, China's search for clarity is coming up against a modern complication. As the country industrializes and its factories belch out noxious gases, the wall further fades from view. "The biggest problem nowadays is the pall of pollution which exists over much of China," Hoffman says. "It effectively makes it impossible to see almost anything."
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
IPTV to be tall task for Indian telecom firms
Mumbai, March 12: Indian telecom firms, seeking to increase revenue and stimulate demand by offering Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services, face hurdles of high costs, low broadband usage and slow speeds, company officials said."The interactivity in IPTV opens up a new platform for advertisers, which translates into higher revenues per user for the telecom firms," said Aksh Optifibre's managing director, Kailash Choudhari.
State-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam are the only companies which now offer limited IPTV services, or television or video signals over broadband.
Bharti Airtel is expected to roll-out its services shortly, while Reliance Communications Ltd in November announced a $500 million pact with Microsoft Corp for IPTV services in India.
High costs of acquisition
IOL Netcom and Aksh Optifibre are battling high costs as television broadcasters charge telecom companies much more than cable operators for programme feeds.
"We are paying through our nose - paying a big amount to the broadcasters for each territory," said IOL Director A.S.Oberai.
"Our franchisees are finding it difficult to get TV feed at the same rates which they provide to cable operators, with the result it is becoming more expensive for us," said MTNL's Executive Director, J. Gopal.
Broadcasters are looking for minimum subscriber guarantees, officials said. Any shortfall in subscribers has to be made good by the service provider, adding to costs, said Aksh's Choudhari.
Broadcasters "need to be assured of revenues before offering our content," said Ishwar Jha, CEO of Digital Media Convergence Ltd., which distributes content from Zee Entertainment and Zee News to alternate media platforms.
MTNL has now close to 3,000 subscribers in Mumbai and 5,000 on an all-India basis. "We are able to provide 50-60 connections in a day," Gopal said.
IOL and Aksh have tied up with MTNL in Mumbai and Delhi and with BSNL in other areas to provide IPTV services on the state-owned carriers' broadband network.
Low broadband usage
Another big hurdle to popularising IPTV is the low broadband penetration. TRAI figures show India's broadband subscriber base at 3.24 million at the end of January, with less than 1 million new users added between April 2007 and January 2008.
MTNL and BSNL are providing 2 mega bytes per second speed - which is theoretically good enough for video streaming. But, consumers may need a higher bandwidth of 4-8 Mbps for high definition video required to watch video-on-demand and gaming.
"It needs a good feed and last mile connectivity," said Bharti Airtel's vice-president of network services, Shyam Prabhakar Mardikar. Quality of copper also has to be good since India does not have fibre to home connectivity, he said.
Still, companies battle on in hopes of a boost in revenue as well as higher broadband usage in the country.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Strike to Paralyze Indian Airports
Airport workers across India threatened to strike at midnight on Tuesday, a move that could ground hundreds of commercial flights and leave tens of thousands of passengers stranded.
The threatened strike is over plans to privatize two major airports, but workers are expected to join in at 127 other state-run airports _ nearly every airport in India except New Delhi and Mumbai, the two busiest airports, which are already privately run.
S. R. Santhanam, a leader of the airport workers union, said the decision to launch an open-ended strike starting at midnight Tuesday was made after talks with the government broke down Monday.
'No talks are scheduled unless the government sends a message,' he said, adding that some 15,000 airport workers, including baggage handlers, cleaners and ground staff would go on strike.
The dispute between stems from a government plan to privatize new airports in the southern cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore, a move that union says will endanger the jobs of hundreds of employees.
Airport authorities plan to shift all commercial activity from the cities' old airports to the new ones when they open in coming weeks.
Hyderabad and Bangalore are both large cities that are home to several major multinational corporations as well as scores of thriving information technology companies.
The government plans to use the old airports for disaster management and flights carrying government leaders, aviation ministry spokeswoman Moushmi Chakravarty told The Associated Press.
Chakravarty said the private operators would retain the employees. However, the unions worry that there could be future layoffs.
Subhash Goyal, chairman of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said any strike could cost the booming aviation sector millions of dollars.
'It will have a tremendous impact on travelers,' he said.
India's airline industry has grown dramatically in recent years as rising incomes and loosened regulations put air travel within reach of millions of new customers.
In the early 1990s, Indian Airlines was the country's single carrier, but Indian authorities opened up the airways and since then about a dozen airlines have opened for business, leading to a heated competition and low prices.
In January India's aviation minister Praful Patel said that Indian carriers were expected to increase their fleet of aircraft from the current 400 to about 2,500 by 2020.
The threatened strike is over plans to privatize two major airports, but workers are expected to join in at 127 other state-run airports _ nearly every airport in India except New Delhi and Mumbai, the two busiest airports, which are already privately run.
S. R. Santhanam, a leader of the airport workers union, said the decision to launch an open-ended strike starting at midnight Tuesday was made after talks with the government broke down Monday.
'No talks are scheduled unless the government sends a message,' he said, adding that some 15,000 airport workers, including baggage handlers, cleaners and ground staff would go on strike.
The dispute between stems from a government plan to privatize new airports in the southern cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore, a move that union says will endanger the jobs of hundreds of employees.
Airport authorities plan to shift all commercial activity from the cities' old airports to the new ones when they open in coming weeks.
Hyderabad and Bangalore are both large cities that are home to several major multinational corporations as well as scores of thriving information technology companies.
The government plans to use the old airports for disaster management and flights carrying government leaders, aviation ministry spokeswoman Moushmi Chakravarty told The Associated Press.
Chakravarty said the private operators would retain the employees. However, the unions worry that there could be future layoffs.
Subhash Goyal, chairman of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said any strike could cost the booming aviation sector millions of dollars.
'It will have a tremendous impact on travelers,' he said.
India's airline industry has grown dramatically in recent years as rising incomes and loosened regulations put air travel within reach of millions of new customers.
In the early 1990s, Indian Airlines was the country's single carrier, but Indian authorities opened up the airways and since then about a dozen airlines have opened for business, leading to a heated competition and low prices.
In January India's aviation minister Praful Patel said that Indian carriers were expected to increase their fleet of aircraft from the current 400 to about 2,500 by 2020.
From Mar 31, pay Rs 20 for using any ATM
NEW DELHI: Customers will have to pay a maximum of Rs 20 for withdrawing cash from an ATM of another bank from March 31, 2008. However, balance inquiries will attract no charge with immediate effect.
The charge for cash withdrawal is only till March 31 next year, after which it will become zero. Aiming to make all ATM usage free from April 2009, the Reserve Bank of India on Monday said banks cannot charge for balance inquiries and capped the fee for cash withdrawals at Rs 20 per transaction, irrespective of the amount and the bank where the customer holds the account.
In a circular issued to all commercial banks, RBI also said that banks cannot charge their own customers for ATM usage, with immediate effect.
This is the first instance of RBI fixing tariff for the use of ATMs. So far, banks fixed such charges on their own. As charges vary from bank to bank, a customer can’t be sure of the amount he will have to pay for using an ATM of a bank other than the one in which he holds an account.
In the wake of the circular, a bank will not be able to charge more than Rs 20 for transactions carried out using the ATM card of another bank.
The charge for cash withdrawal is only till March 31 next year, after which it will become zero. Aiming to make all ATM usage free from April 2009, the Reserve Bank of India on Monday said banks cannot charge for balance inquiries and capped the fee for cash withdrawals at Rs 20 per transaction, irrespective of the amount and the bank where the customer holds the account.
In a circular issued to all commercial banks, RBI also said that banks cannot charge their own customers for ATM usage, with immediate effect.
This is the first instance of RBI fixing tariff for the use of ATMs. So far, banks fixed such charges on their own. As charges vary from bank to bank, a customer can’t be sure of the amount he will have to pay for using an ATM of a bank other than the one in which he holds an account.
In the wake of the circular, a bank will not be able to charge more than Rs 20 for transactions carried out using the ATM card of another bank.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
I am fit to play against South Africa: Sachin
Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday dispelled concerns that he will not be available for the Test series against South Africa because of fitness related issues, saying he was fully fit to play the series.
"I have played the last match. As far as I am concerned I am fit. I have not said anything before on this. I will certainly play against South Africa. There is no doubt," the champion batsman said.
Tendulkar was named as the captain of the 'Mumbai Indians' team for the forthcoming Indian Premier League to be held from April 18 and also unveiled the logo of the team at a promotional event in Mumbai.
According to news reports, Tendulkar has been advised rest for two weeks by outgoing physiotherapist John Gloster at the end of the tour of Australia.
The first Test against South Africa commences in Chennai on March 26.
"I have played the last match. As far as I am concerned I am fit. I have not said anything before on this. I will certainly play against South Africa. There is no doubt," the champion batsman said.
Tendulkar was named as the captain of the 'Mumbai Indians' team for the forthcoming Indian Premier League to be held from April 18 and also unveiled the logo of the team at a promotional event in Mumbai.
According to news reports, Tendulkar has been advised rest for two weeks by outgoing physiotherapist John Gloster at the end of the tour of Australia.
The first Test against South Africa commences in Chennai on March 26.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Hrithik roshan to pair with hot latino actress Barbara mori
To be directed by ace director Anurag Basu of Gangster and Metro fame, the movie is to be shot in New Mexico, Las Vegas and Los Angeles in the U.S.A.The producer and director have reached back India after an extensive search in the U.S.A for the leading lady. For over a month, director Anurag Basu and Rakesh Roshan have been hunting for a suitable actress from Spanish background for their upcoming film,
On their list were popular Latino actresses including Penelope Cruz. Finally they decided on Barbara Mori. She has worked in television and in a few Spanish-Mexican films.
Many girls were considered for the role including Sonam kapoor of Saawariyan fame. But she backed out due to the bold scenes required in the film.
“The girl’s role is extremely bold. Actually, we’ve decided to cast someone international because that’s the personality and profile of the leading lady in my film,” Anurag Basu, who will direct the film, was quoted as saying.
The movie also stars Kangana Raut. She is veteran of Anurag Basu’s hit movies, Gangster and Metro.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
First spam felony conviction upheld: no free speech to spam
Virginia's Supreme Court on Friday upheld the first US felony conviction for spamming. The spammer will serve nine years in prison for sending what authorities believe to be millions of messages over a two-month period in 2003.
Jeremy Jaynes is the man who will make history. A Raleigh, North Carolina, resident who made Spamhaus' top 10 list of spammers, Jaynes was arrested in 2003 even before the CAN SPAM act was passed by Congress. Jaynes was convicted in 2005, but his lawyers appealed the conviction. This past Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld that conviction, but the vote was a narrow 4-3.
The prosecution presented evidence of over 53,000 illegal e-mails that Jaynes sent over just three days during July, 2003, but it is believed that he sent 10 million messages per day between July and August of that year. Though he is a North Carolina resident, Jaynes was charged in Virginia because the AOL servers he used for sending spam were located in Loudoun County, Virginia.
While defending Jaynes, his lawyers attempted to argue that a provision of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act violates constitutional First Amendment rights to "anonymous speech," as well as the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution. The court rejected these claims due to Jaynes' use of fake e-mail addresses, which breaks the US CAN SPAM law's condition of giving recipients a means of contacting the sender. The court also stated that his peddling of scam products and services excludes him from First Amendment rights. In effect, the court said that you can't scam people and then cry "free speech!" when hooked by the law.
While one might think that Jaynes' case should have been open and shut, Justice Elizabeth Lacy highlighted some of the reasons behind the close 4-3 verdict, along with the potential dangers of vague anti-spam legislation. In her written dissent, Lacy argued that the "unsolicited bulk electronic mail" provision of Virginia's Computer Crimes Act is "unconstitutionally overbroad on its face because it prohibits the anonymous transmission of all unsolicited bulk e-mail including those containing political, religious or other speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."
Still, the court upheld Jaynes' original 2005 sentence of three years in prison for each of the three Virginia Computer Crimes Act code violations for which he was found guilty. For those playing along at home, that's nine years in the pokey.
The lesson? Spam doesn't pay, unless you live outside the US. But that's a story for another day.
Jeremy Jaynes is the man who will make history. A Raleigh, North Carolina, resident who made Spamhaus' top 10 list of spammers, Jaynes was arrested in 2003 even before the CAN SPAM act was passed by Congress. Jaynes was convicted in 2005, but his lawyers appealed the conviction. This past Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld that conviction, but the vote was a narrow 4-3.
The prosecution presented evidence of over 53,000 illegal e-mails that Jaynes sent over just three days during July, 2003, but it is believed that he sent 10 million messages per day between July and August of that year. Though he is a North Carolina resident, Jaynes was charged in Virginia because the AOL servers he used for sending spam were located in Loudoun County, Virginia.
While defending Jaynes, his lawyers attempted to argue that a provision of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act violates constitutional First Amendment rights to "anonymous speech," as well as the interstate commerce clause of the US Constitution. The court rejected these claims due to Jaynes' use of fake e-mail addresses, which breaks the US CAN SPAM law's condition of giving recipients a means of contacting the sender. The court also stated that his peddling of scam products and services excludes him from First Amendment rights. In effect, the court said that you can't scam people and then cry "free speech!" when hooked by the law.
While one might think that Jaynes' case should have been open and shut, Justice Elizabeth Lacy highlighted some of the reasons behind the close 4-3 verdict, along with the potential dangers of vague anti-spam legislation. In her written dissent, Lacy argued that the "unsolicited bulk electronic mail" provision of Virginia's Computer Crimes Act is "unconstitutionally overbroad on its face because it prohibits the anonymous transmission of all unsolicited bulk e-mail including those containing political, religious or other speech protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."
Still, the court upheld Jaynes' original 2005 sentence of three years in prison for each of the three Virginia Computer Crimes Act code violations for which he was found guilty. For those playing along at home, that's nine years in the pokey.
The lesson? Spam doesn't pay, unless you live outside the US. But that's a story for another day.
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