Top spam e-mail sender stays in prison

BEFORE READING 

1. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	mass	a.	reversed
2	originally	b.	fools
3.	overturned	c.	wealth
4.	clogs	d.	large-scale
5.	prosperity	e.	imitation
6.	aliases	f.	initially
7.	fake	g.	forecast
8.	anonymously	h.	blocks
9.	predict	i.	false names
10.	tricks	j.	secretly

An American court has sent a strong warning to anyone who sends spam e-mail. Virginia judges decided that one of the world’s top e-mail spammers, Jeremy Jaynes, must stay in prison. He was originally jailed for nine years in 2004 for mass distribution of junk e-mail. He appealed against the decision and was trying to get his prison sentence overturned, saying that sending bulk e-mail was not against the law. He tried to argue in court that his rights of free speech meant he could send as many mails as he liked. The judges disagreed in a 4-3 decision against him. Virginia’s state attorney Bob McDonnell said: "This is a historic victory in the fight against online crime." He added: "Spam not only clogs e-mail inboxes and destroys productivity, it also defrauds citizens and threatens the online revolution that is so critical to…economic prosperity."

Jaynes was thought to be one of the top ten spammers in the world before the police caught him. He used aliases and false Internet addresses to mail out millions of junk mails. Investigators said he sent as many as ten million mails a day, which earned him up to $750,000 a month. Many of these mails were for fake goods and services. The court ruled that Jaynes was sending out false information and this was not protected under America’s laws of free speech. Jaynes’ lawyer said the court’s decision was dangerous as it meant anyone who sent out bulk mail anonymously could now be arrested. Although keeping Jaynes in prison is good news in the fight against cyber-crime, there are thousands more like him. Experts predict that up to 90 percent of the world’s e-mail is junk. Spam also tricks people into giving personal information like bank and credit card details to the spammers.

COMPREHENSION 

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A US court ruled a big-time e-mail spammer must stay in jail.	T / F
b.	The spammer will be released from prison in 2013.	T / F
c.	Forty three judges decided to keep the spammer in prison.	T / F
d.	Spam mail has a negative effect on the economy.	T / F
e.	The spammer used his own name in all of the mails he sent.	T / F
f.	The spammer sent as many as 10,000,000 mails every day.	T / F
g.	It could be that up to 90 per cent of all e-mails is spam.	T / F
h.	Spammers never try to get personal information and bank details.	T / F