Is spamming a productive work? Some might think so, but the law disagrees. Robert Soloway, 29, considered to be among the world’s most notorious spammers, pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and not filing a tax return, activities that reportedly earned him over $300,000 in 2003.

It is not for the first time Soloway faces accusations of illicit activities on the Internet. In 2003, Microsoft sued him for spamming activities, and won the lawsuit against Soloway in April 2005. Since 2003, Soloway has been responsible for sending millions of e-mails.

The spammer’s journey in court continued in 2007, when he was charged with 40 counts of mail fraud, but he only pleaded guilty to three of them, while the rest of the counts were dropped. So far, Soloway was lucky enough not to be punished for his deeds, but this time the situation is different.

Although spammers rarely get convictions for their illegal activities, this is one of those cases, as Soloway faces a maximum of 26 years in prison. In addition to the years in prison, Soloway will also discuss his financial assets while being monitored by a polygraph.

The “Spam King” (the justice has been pursuing many of these “kings” as it seems) is just one of the cases of spamming going…bad, or getting caught and paying with years in prison for it.

Earlier this month, the Virginia Supreme Court reinforced its position regarding illegal spamming against Jeremy Jaynes, who was convicted to 9 years in prison. Also, in November 2007, 28 year-old Todd Moeller was sentenced to 27 months in prison after sending over 1.2 million e-mails to AOL customers.

It seems like the justice system begins to tighten its tolerance to such activities, and punishments have started to move from simple fines to years in prison, in Soloway’s case, at least 20 of them. The sentence is to be expected in June this year.