Spammers breaking the law, UK judge rules

People who bombard innocent victims with a blizzard of unsolicited "spam" emails are breaking the law and could face up to five years in jail, London's High Court ruled today.

In a test case that puts spammers in the same league as people who spread computer viruses, two judges said that these cyber-spammers could be prosecuted under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act.

The ruling came as the two overturned a district judge's previous ruling that 18-year-old David Lennon had no case to answer after being accused of using a computer programme to send five million emails to a firm which had fired him.

The judges said that while a computer user might consent to being sent some emails, that consent did not extend to receiving a barrage of such messages.

Ruling that the extent of consent should be decided on a case-by-case basis, the judges said it plainly did not cover emails sent intentionally to jam a receiving computer rather than for the purpose of communication.

The case must now go back to the original court to be reconsidered.

- REUTERS