Today, in a precedent-setting ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court invalidated a 2003 anti-spam law on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment. The decision also frees notorious spammer Jeremy Jaynes, convicted under the law in 2004, stood to serve 9 years of prison time for sending tens of thousands of spam emails through AOL servers in Loudoun.

Jaynes allegedly made $24 million from sales yielded by his massive spam campaign, according to prosecutors who convicted him.

The Virginia anti-spam law considers sending more than 10,000 emails with false transmission information during a period of less than 24 hours a felony, and this applies to both commercial and non-commercial emails. Justice G. Steven Agee, who presided of Jaynes’ second appeal, reversed the ruling that convicted Jaynes six months ago, calling the 2003 law "unconstitutionally overbroad" and said that it "infringes on that protected right" to "engage in anonymous speech, particularly anonymous political or religious speech" granted by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Jeremy Jaynes was the first person to be convicted on the state anti-spam law and the first American to be convicted of a felony for sending bulk email.

Even with the Virginia law overturned, Jeremy Jaynes is still guilty of violating the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act, although he cannot be prosecuted for it because the federal law was instated after Jaynes’ spam emails were sent.