"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! 

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.