Spam.  Utterly harmless but very annoying stuff that pops up while you're on the net, checking your e-mail, or something like that.  But to Howard Carmack it means at very least three and a half years, so maybe it not quite so harmless as we all thought.

            Actually only one Spam law has been passed through Congress although many attempts have been made.  That one was the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.  The CAN-SPAN Act actually stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing.  It makes it illegal to (with this act in place) to send unwanted commercial e-mails without labeling them.  It also makes it illegal to use deceiving subject lines in e-mails.  This act has been enforced since January 1^st 2004 so if you get any e-mail that fall into this category, they've broken federal law.

            However, breaking the CAN-SPAM Act isnt the only way to be arrested when it comes to spam and junk mail in general.  Howard Carmack was sentenced to a minimum of 3 ½ to 7 years in prison for sending junk e-mails through accounts he acquired with stolen identities.  Clearly this is another reason to be ware of identity theft.  Imagine if he hadn't been caught and the e-mails were traced to someone else.  From his illegal 343 accounts he sent many e-mails containing things like 'get-rich-quick' schemes.  He was caught in May of 2003.