Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Spam Email

Top spam e-mail sender stays in prison

An American court has sent a strong warning to anyone who sends spam e-mail. Virginia judges decided that one of the world’s top e-mail spammers, Jeremy Jaynes, must stay in prison. He was originally jailed for nine years in 2004 for mass distribution of junk e-mail. He appealed against the decision and was trying to get his prison sentence overturned, saying that sending bulk e-mail was not against the law. He tried to argue in court that his rights of free speech meant he could send as many mails as he liked. The judges disagreed in a 4-3 decision against him. Virginia’s state attorney Bob McDonnell said: "This is a historic victory in the fight against online crime." He added: "Spam not only clogs e-mail inboxes and destroys productivity, it also defrauds citizens and threatens the online revolution that is so critical to…economic prosperity."

Jaynes was thought to be one of the top ten spammers in the world before the police caught him. He used aliases and false Internet addresses to mail out millions of junk mails. Investigators said he sent as many as ten million mails a day, which earned him up to $750,000 a month. Many of these mails were for fake goods and services. The court ruled that Jaynes was sending out false information and this was not protected under America’s laws of free speech. Jaynes’ lawyer said the court’s decision was dangerous as it meant anyone who sent out bulk mail anonymously could now be arrested. Although keeping Jaynes in prison is good news in the fight against cyber-crime, there are thousands more like him. Experts predict that up to 90 percent of the world’s e-mail is junk. Spam also tricks people into giving personal information like bank and credit card details to the spammers.

WARM-UPS

1. E-MAIL: Walk around the class and talk to other students about e-mail. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your original partner(s) and share what you found out.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

American courts / strong warnings / prison / free speech / rights / online crime / aliases / junk mails / fake goods / experts / personal information / spammers

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. E-OPINIONS: Talk with your partner(s) about the points below. Are they true? Rate them: 10 = very true, 1 = not at all true. Talk about the reasons for your scores. Change partners and share your findings.

a. _____ e-mail can never harm us

b. _____ children should not have e-mail accounts until they are 16

c. _____ letters are better than e-mail

d. _____ anyone who buys anything from an e-mail is stupid

e. _____ spammers are worse than thieves

f. _____ sending e-mail anonymously is totally OK

g. _____ spammers should be jailed for damaging the economy

h. _____ online crime will get worse in the future

4. E-MAIL PROBLEMS: Talk with your partner(s) about these e-mail problems. Agree on the three biggest and smallest. Change partners and share your findings.

spam
time taken to send mail
file size
connection speed
viruses

English spelling
personal information
phishing
losing mails
other ___________________

5. JUNK: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘junk’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. QUICK ROLE PLAY: Student A strongly believes that sending spam e-mails isn’t a criminal offence; Student B strongly believes sending spam e-mails is a serious crime. Change partners again and talk about your roles and conversations.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A US court ruled a big-time e-mail spammer must stay in jail.	T / F
b.	The spammer will be released from prison in 2013.	T / F
c.	Forty three judges decided to keep the spammer in prison.	T / F
d.	Spam mail has a negative effect on the economy.	T / F
e.	The spammer used his own name in all of the mails he sent.	T / F
f.	The spammer sent as many as 10,000,000 mails every day.	T / F
g.	It could be that up to 90 per cent of all e-mails is spam.	T / F
h.	Spammers never try to get personal information and bank details.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	mass	a.	reversed
2	originally	b.	fools
3.	overturned	c.	wealth
4.	clogs	d.	large-scale
5.	prosperity	e.	imitation
6.	aliases	f.	initially
7.	fake	g.	forecast
8.	anonymously	h.	blocks
9.	predict	i.	false names
10.	tricks	j.	secretly

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

1.	sent a strong warning to anyone who	a.	laws of free speech
2	mass distribution	b.	sentence overturned
3.	trying to get his prison	c.	false Internet addresses
4.	his rights of	d.	of junk e-mail
5.	the online revolution that is so critical	e.	be one of the top ten
6.	thought to	f.	sends spam e-mail
7.	He used aliases and	g.	world’s e-mail is junk
8.	not protected under America’s	h.	to economic prosperity
9.	anyone who sent out bulk mail	i.	free speech
10.	Experts predict that up to 90% of the	j.	anonymously

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

An American court has sent a _________ warning to anyone who sends spam e-mail. Virginia judges decided that one of the world’s top e-mail spammers, Jeremy Jaynes, must stay in prison. He was _________ jailed for nine years in 2004 for mass distribution of junk e-mail. He appealed _________ the decision and was trying to get his prison sentence overturned, saying that sending bulk e-mail was not against the law. He tried to _________ in court that his rights of free speech meant he could send as many mails as he liked. The judges disagreed in a 4-3 _________ against him. Virginia’s state attorney Bob McDonnell said: "This is a historic victory in the fight against _________ crime." He added: "Spam not only _________ e-mail inboxes and destroys productivity, it also defrauds citizens and threatens the online revolution that is so critical to…economic _________."

decision
against
prosperity
online
strong
argue
clogs
originally

Jaynes was _________ to be one of the top ten spammers in the world before the police caught him. He used aliases and _________ Internet addresses to mail out millions of junk mails. Investigators said he sent as _________ as ten million mails a day, which earned him up to $750,000 a month. Many of these mails were for _________ goods and services. The court ruled that Jaynes was sending out false information and this was not protected _________ America’s laws of free speech. Jaynes’ lawyer said the court’s decision was dangerous as it _________ anyone who sent out bulk mail anonymously could now be arrested. Although keeping Jaynes in prison is good news in the fight against cyber-crime, there are thousands more like him. Experts _________ that up to 90 percent of the world’s e-mail is junk. Spam also _________ people into giving personal information like bank and credit card details to the spammers.

under
many
fake
tricks
thought
meant
false
predict

LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.

An American court has ____________________ anyone who sends spam e-mail. Virginia judges decided that one of the world’s top e-mail spammers, Jeremy Jaynes, must stay in prison. He ____________________ nine years in 2004 for mass distribution of junk e-mail. He appealed against the decision and was ____________________ sentence overturned, saying that sending bulk e-mail was not against the law. He tried to argue in court that his rights of free speech meant he could send ____________________ liked. The judges disagreed in a 4-3 decision against him. Virginia’s state attorney Bob McDonnell said: "This is a historic ____________________ against online crime." He added: "Spam ____________________ inboxes and destroys productivity, it also defrauds citizens and threatens the online revolution that ____________________ economic prosperity."

Jaynes ____________________ of the top ten spammers in the world before the police caught him. He used aliases and false Internet addresses to mail out millions of junk mails. Investigators ____________________ as ten million mails a day, which earned him up to $750,000 a month. Many of these mails ____________________ services. The court ruled that Jaynes was sending out false information and this was not protected under America’s ____________________. Jaynes’ lawyer said the court’s decision was dangerous as it meant anyone who sent out bulk mail anonymously could now be arrested. Although keeping Jaynes in prison ____________________ against cyber-crime, there are thousands more like him. Experts predict that up to 90 percent of the world’s e-mail is junk. Spam ____________________ giving personal information like bank and credit card details to the spammers.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘junk’ and ‘mail’.

junk

mail

Share your findings with your partners.
Make questions using the words you found.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

strong
originally
overturned
judges
historic
critical

false
earned
protected
dangerous
fight
tricks

STUDENT E-MAIL SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about e-mail in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘spam’?
c)	How do you feel when you see junk mail in your inbox?
d)	What would you like to do to people who send you junk mail?
e)	Do you think the authorities could and should do more to stop spammers sending junk mail?
f)	Is it part of free speech to send mails to people you don’t know?
g)	What do you do to keep your e-mail address known to as few people as possible?
h)	What punishment should spammers receive for sending out junk mail?
i)	Why do you think Jaynes thought it was OK to send up to 10 million e-mails a day using aliases and false Internet addresses?

--------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Has a junk mail ever successfully tricked you?
c)	Do you think nine years in prison is a suitable sentence for Jeremy Jaynes?
d)	Do you think junk mail will be a problem for many years or will someone find a solution to stop spamming?
e)	Do you prefer e-mail or writing letters with a pen and mailing them in an envelope?
f)	What do you do to avoid spam?
g)	Are you worried that the Internet will become more and more dangerous?
h)	What do you think about what Jaynes’ lawyer said about the decision?
i)	Did you like this discussion?

LANGUAGE

CORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article.

An American court has sent a (1) ____ warning to anyone who sends spam e-mail. Virginia judges decided that one of the world’s top e-mail spammers, Jeremy Jaynes, must stay in prison. He was (2) ____ jailed for nine years in 2004 for mass distribution of junk e-mail. He appealed against the decision and was trying to get his prison sentence (3) ____, saying that sending bulk e-mail was not against the law. He tried to argue in court that his rights (4) ____ free speech meant he could send as many mails as he liked. The judges disagreed in a 4-3 decision against him. Virginia’s state attorney Bob McDonnell said: "This is a (5) ____ victory in the fight against online crime." He added: "Spam not only clogs e-mail inboxes and destroys productivity, it also defrauds citizens and (6) ____ the online revolution that is so critical to…economic prosperity."

Jaynes was thought (7) ____ be one of the top ten spammers in the world before the police caught him. He used (8) ____ and false Internet addresses to mail out millions of junk mails. Investigators said he sent as many as ten million mails a day, which (9) ____ him up to $750,000 a month. Many of these mails were for fake goods and services. The court ruled that Jaynes was sending out false information and this was not protected (10) ____ America’s laws of free speech. Jaynes’ lawyer said the court’s decision was dangerous as it meant anyone who sent out bulk mail anonymously could now be arrested. Although (11) ____ Jaynes in prison is good news in the fight against cyber-crime, there are thousands more like him. Experts predict that up to 90 percent of the world’s e-mail is junk. Spam also tricks people (12) ____ giving personal information like bank and credit card details to the spammers.

1.	(a)	strengthen	(b)	strength	(c)	strongest	(d)	strong
2.	(a)	origins	(b)	originally	(c)	origin	(d)	originate
3.	(a)	overturned	(b)	overtaken	(c)	overstayed	(d)	overcast
4.	(a)	by	(b)	for	(c)	of	(d)	from
5.	(a)	hysterical	(b)	historically	(c)	historic	(d)	historian
6.	(a)	threats	(b)	threatens	(c)	treats	(d)	threatening
7.	(a)	to	(b)	of	(c)	on	(d)	out
8.	(a)	aliens	(b)	alias	(c)	alas	(d)	aliases
9.	(a)	burned	(b)	earned	(c)	yearned	(d)	turned
10.	(a)	over	(b)	before	(c)	around	(d)	under
11.	(a)	keep	(b)	keeps	(c)	keeping	(d)	kept
12.	(a)	into	(b)	onto	(c)	and to	(d)	up to

WRITING:

Write about e-mail for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_______________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out about spam mails and junk mails. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. CYBER DANGERS: Make a poster about all the different dangers and annoyances of the Internet – from spam to phishing to identity theft. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. SPAM: Write a magazine article about a spammer who became very rich by sending bulk spam mail and then ended up in prison. Include imaginary interviews with the spammer and someone who lost a lot of money after buying fake goods from one of the spammer’s mails.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down new words and expressions.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the head teacher of cybercrime fighting unit. Ask her/him three questions about cybercrime. Give her/him three suggestions on what (s)he should do to stop it. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. T

c. F

d. T

e. F

f. T

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	mass	a.	large-scale
2	originally	b.	initially
3.	overturned	c.	reversed
4.	clogs	d.	blocks
5.	prosperity	e.	wealth
6.	aliases	f.	false names
7.	fake	g.	imitation
8.	anonymously	h.	secretly
9.	predict	i.	forecast
10.	tricks	j.	fools

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	sent a strong warning to anyone who	a.	sends spam e-mail
2	mass distribution	b.	of junk e-mail
3.	trying to get his prison	c.	sentence overturned
4.	his rights of	d.	free speech
5.	the online revolution that is so critical	e.	to economic prosperity
6.	thought to	f.	be one of the top ten
7.	He used aliases and	g.	false Internet addresses
8.	not protected under America’s	h.	laws of free speech
9.	anyone who sent out bulk mail	i.	anonymously
10.	Experts predict that up to 90% of the	j.	world’s e-mail is junk

GAP FILL:

Top spam e-mail sender stays in prison

An American court has sent a strong warning to anyone who sends spam e-mail. Virginia judges decided that one of the world’s top e-mail spammers, Jeremy Jaynes, must stay in prison. He was originally jailed for nine years in 2004 for mass distribution of junk e-mail. He appealed against the decision and was trying to get his prison sentence overturned, saying that sending bulk e-mail was not against the law. He tried to argue in court that his rights of free speech meant he could send as many mails as he liked. The judges disagreed in a 4-3 decision against him. Virginia’s state attorney Bob McDonnell said: "This is a historic victory in the fight against online crime." He added: "Spam not only clogs e-mail inboxes and destroys productivity, it also defrauds citizens and threatens the online revolution that is so critical to…economic prosperity."

Jaynes was thought to be one of the top ten spammers in the world before the police caught him. He used aliases and false Internet addresses to mail out millions of junk mails. Investigators said he sent as many as ten million mails a day, which earned him up to $750,000 a month. Many of these mails were for fake goods and services. The court ruled that Jaynes was sending out false information and this was not protected under America’s laws of free speech. Jaynes’ lawyer said the court’s decision was dangerous as it meant anyone who sent out bulk mail anonymously could now be arrested. Although keeping Jaynes in prison is good news in the fight against cyber-crime, there are thousands more like him. Experts predict that up to 90 percent of the world’s e-mail is junk. Spam also tricks people into giving personal information like bank and credit card details to the spammers.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - b

3 - a

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - a

8 - d

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

Breaking News English

THE ARTICLE

Top spam e-mail sender stays in prison

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT E-MAIL SURVEY

DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE

WRITING:

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Top spam e-mail sender stays in prison

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

My 1,000 Ideas e-Book	Breaking News English HOME \| HELP MY SITE \| 000s MORE FREE LESSONS	My 1,000 Ideas e-Book