It doesn't always pay to spam. Two men convicted of sending pornographic versions of the annoying emails have been sentenced to more than five years in prison.
The two 41-year-old men, who put together an international spam ring that pulled in over $1 million, now owe fines of $100,000 in addition to the extensive prison time. Working out of Phoenix, the men used servers in Amsterdam to make it look like the scam was originating outside the country.
While five years might sound like quite a lot of time, these are far from the harshest sentences on record. In 2005, a jury blasted junk-mail king Jeremy Jaynes with nine years. (The prosecution wanted 15.) Jaynes appealed, and lost, but his case has now gone to the Supreme Court of Virginia. A decision is expected next month.—Gregory Mone
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
Share links with friends, comment on stories and more
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
Check out the best of what's new here.