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All of you who feel like your businesses are inundated with spam everyday should breathe a quiet sigh of probably mock relief. Robert Soloway, one of the most prolific spammers of all time, has entered a guilty plea to several counts of fraud and tax evasion in Federal court in Seattle. Soloway, who is just 28, is facing 26 years in prison as a result. The prosecution was done by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The so-called king of spammers had already lost several civil cases, including one to Microsoft for almost $8 million. At one point, having been successful in avoiding any payments as a result of these suits, Soloway is quoted as saying “I've been sued for hundreds of millions of dollars and have had my business running for over 10 years without ever paying a dime, regardless to the outcome of any lawsuits.”

Soloway is one of the few spammers in U.S. history to face jail time as a result of his indiscretions. Generally, the prosecutions result in only fines, which have often been easily avoided. A senior Microsoft attorney recently said, “here have not been a large number of criminal CAN-SPAM prosecutions in the U.S. This is significant." If sentenced to all 26 years, the Soloway case would give spammers something to think about.