Techdirt. Stories filed under "sentences" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "sentences"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Fri, 28 May 2010 10:20:37 PDT Using An Online Map As Part Of Your Criminal Activity Gets You A Longer Sentence In Louisiana Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100528/0200549613.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100528/0200549613.shtml withersteen alerts us to a strange new law that has been passed in Louisiana, which will add from one to ten years to your prison sentence if you use an online map in the process of committing a crime:
A bill headed to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk would increase penalties for crimes committed with the use of an Internet-generated "virtual street-level map."

Senate Bill 151 by Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, provides for an additional year in prison for crimes committed using the maps, including acts of terrorism or other criminal offenses like burglary or stalking.

An act of terrorism using the maps could mean an additional 10 years behind bars.
Apparently the bill passed by a vote of 89-0. I'm trying to figure out what the rationale for this law is, and the best I can figure out is that this is a bizarre kneejerk reaction to services like Google's Street View, and the claims from some that such services could be used to "scout out" crime locations. Of course, the same is true of driving by a location. Will Senator Adley add a new bill that increases your prison sentence if you first drive by the location before committing the crime?

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]]> please-explain... http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100528/0200549613 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:10:00 PDT One Spammer Sentenced To 4 Years In Jail As Another Escapes From Prison Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080722/2333401770.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080722/2333401770.shtml sentence a convicted spammer, and you came up with all sorts of colorful solutions. I doubt it influenced the judge much, but she's now sentenced the spammer in question to almost four years in jail, noting that she hopes it will serve as a warning to other spammers, especially unrepentant ones like Robert Soloway:
"This individual has refused to stop his criminal conduct, notwithstanding two separate civil judgments and an injunction by a U.S. federal court judge. I suggest to you the only effective way to stop Soloway is a long prison sentence during which he'll be incapable of continuing this criminal activity."
Of course, on the very same day the sentence was handed down, another spammer escaped from the minimum security prison where he was serving a 21-month sentence. Federal Marshals and the FBI are apparently now searching for him. Perhaps Soloway will have a bit more security.

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]]> revolving-doors http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20080722/2333401770 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:28:00 PDT More Spammers Getting More Long Term Sentences; But Does It Help? Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071015/154953.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071015/154953.shtml sentenced to over five years each for sending out pornographic spam emails in violation of CAN SPAM. There is an argument to be made that such high penalties act as a deterrent to other spammers, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence that that's true. Considering that the amount of spam being sent has continued to grow over time (despite some other high profile sentences) it's unclear whether these long sentences really do much good.

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