The first person to be prosecuted under tough US federal
anti-spam laws has pleased guilty to the charges.
Daniel Lin has admitted his guilt on three charges brought by
federal prosecutors, who are using anti-spam laws brought into use
in 2004.
Two of the charges relate to the sending of millions of
unsolicited spam e-mails, and a third charge is for a firearms
violation offence.
Lin, 30, from Michigan, faces a five-year prison sentence and a
$250,000 (£147,000) fine, according to federal officials.
Lin is said to have worked with three other men in sending out
more than 450,000 spam advertisements, pushing fraudulent
weight-loss and erectile dysfunction products.
Lin is expected to be sentenced in May. In a private prosecution
brought by a small US ISP recently, a Florida man was fined around
$11bn in a district court for sending out millions of spam
messages, but the ISP doesn’t expect to be able to enforce the
award.
The federal laws being used in the Lin case are expected to lead
to jail sentences for perpetrators.