"Spam King" Robert Soloway faces up to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal mail fraud and tax evasion charges. He'll be sentenced June 20 in US District Court in Seattle, Washington.

Soloway was felony mail fraud, fraud in connection with e-mail, and failing to file a tax return in 2005 - the year he made more then $300,000 by sending spam.

In addition to a nice, hefty stay in prison, he also faces fines of over $600,000. While it's unlikely he'll get the maximum sentence, he's going to prison for sure.

Now, all of this is in addition to the millions of dollars in previous judgments companies like Microsoft ($7.8 million) and an Oklahoma Internet service provider ($10 million) have won against him for abusing his network.

Like I've said before, I harbor no illusions that these recent convictions will have any impact at all on the volume of spam we receive.

If you look at it from a spammer's perspective for a minute, it really is super cheap advertising. For the cost of an Internet connection ($20/month or less), you can send your message out to 20 to 30 million people. If only one percent of those people open and read your message, that's 300,000 potential "views" - at a cost per view of less than a hundredth of a cent each.

If one percent of those 300,000 people purchase your product, that's 3,000 sales - for a cost of $20 total, or 6/10ths of a cent each.

It's a simple example, of course, and I'm ignoring the costs to develop the e-mail, hire the attorneys to defend you, etc. But it is a compelling advertising model.

If only it weren't so repugnant! 

Just because everyone in corporate American has e-mail, that doesn't mean it is always an effective way to get your message across. Case in point is the e-mailed press release. If not done right, you're just wasting bytes.

E-mail is often the way that reporters and editors prefer to receive information. And because e-mail is everywhere, it is easy to lose site of the fact that it is simply a communications vehicle - your message still has to be laser focused and precise. You still have to consider the needs of your audience - not your company - despite the ease with which e-mail lets you deliver the information.

Remember, too, that all of your competitors are also e-mailing their press releases and story ideas, so you'll want to make sure your information is as easy as possible to evaluate and, ultimately, publish. Think of these tips as "e-mailed press release etiquette:"

• Don't include the entire press release in the body of your e-mail. It's generally accepted that you have about six seconds to capture the reader's attention in the preview pane - perhaps less if the reporter is particularly busy that day. Press releases can average five or more paragraphs. Instead, include a great headline and some teaser copy in the e-mail, and include a click-through to a hosted version on your Web site. You are publishing all of your press releases on your website, right?
   
• Don’t include attachments. A lot of corporate e-mail filtering systems discourage, and in some cases strip away, unknown attachments in e-mail messages. Make data sheets, photos and other release-related items as down-loadable links on the web page where you've published the release. Or, once you've made personal contact with the reporter or editor, send the attachments as a person-to-person e-mail, instead of as part of your general distribution.
  
• Think carefully about “from” and subject lines. These can be as important as the headline in your release. Here's a good rule to follow: Who the mail is "from" tells the person who got the mail whether or not to delete the e-mail (without opening it), and the subject line tells the recipient whether or not to open the e-mail. If someone in your company has a relationship with the media, test using that person’s name in the “from” line instead of the company name by itself, or your administrative assistant's e-mail. Microsoft Exchange will let you set up permissions for people to send e-mail as you. Write an incredible, attention getting subject line and include first name personalization if possible. Recipient first name personalization has fallen out of widespread favor in the b-to-c e-mail world, but in b-to-b, it’s still another way to catch the people's attention.

Microsoft announced their new software-as-a-service (SaaS) initiative a few days ago:

At last year's Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer described the industry's shift to a software-plus-services strategy: a combination of on-premises, partner-hosted, and Microsoft-hosted software that empowers customers by offering richer applications and more choices. Today, Chairman Bill Gates announced Microsoft Online Services: reliable, secure, enterprise-class software delivered as subscription services that you sell and Microsoft hosts.

Microsoft Online Services provide the rich interactivity of on-premises client and server applications, and the flexibility and scalability of Web-based services. You can generate predictable recurring revenue streams through new managed services, business-process consulting, tier-one end-user support, and your own value-added services. Efficiently expand your customer base with the new, easy-to-deploy Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Office SharePoint Online implementations, without adding infrastructure or headcount.

Offer your small- and midsize-business customers real-time collaboration and integrated experiences regardless of device or location, technologies. Your customers decrease routine, time-consuming IT administration and associated costs, increase operational efficiencies, and improve business agility.

So, fun to read that Jeremy Jaynes, the guy who hijacked an AOL server and sent more than 50,000 e-mails in three days, had his conviction upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court.

I'm not sure how I feel about the decision being so close (4-3, whew!!), but Jaynes' argument that spam is protected free speech wasn't given much credence. Thankfully!

Jaynes is believed to have generated about $750,000 a month when he sent total of 10 million messages between July and August 2003. His fraud activities allowed him to receive millions of dollars in profit, which he used to purchase several homes in the Raleigh, N.C. area.

Jaynes was ultimately charged in Virginia because the AOL servers he used for sending spam were located in that state.

"This is a historic victory in the fight against online crime," said Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell in a written statement. "Spam not only clogs email inboxes and destroys productivity; it also defrauds citizens and threatens the online revolution that is so critical to Virginia's economic prosperity."

The Supreme Court rejected Jaynes' claim that the state law violates both the First Amendment and the federal Interstate Commerce Clause of the U.S. Consitution.

I don't think we'll see any drop in spam because of it... So it's kind of a hollow victory.

But still, it makes me feel better to know this guy is going to be in jail for a few years.