Here is what should happen:

- Bill Belichick banned indefinitely from the NFL and NFL hall of fame - including but not limited to head coaching jobs, scouting jobs, general manager jobs, offensive/defensive coordinator jobs, or any other coaching jobs in general (for Spygate)

- Tom Brady banned indefinitely from the NFL as well as the Hall of Fame, fined $1,000,000

- Robert Kraft forced to sell the Patriots

- The Patriots Super Bowl "wins" in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2014 to be asterisked and declared non-official. Also the Patriots LOSS during Super Bowl 42 should be officially asterisked as one big "Screw you!" to them (make 18-1* official pretty much)

- Patriots organization fined $20,000,000

- Patriots docked 10 future first round draft picks

- Patriots docked 5 future second round draft picks

- Patriots docked future third round draft pick

- Patriots banned from postseason play for 3 years

- Patriots to be renamed and have to use Boston name (to get rid of the "cheating" image they have)

Yeah, I can only assume you're trolling at this point. No serious NFL fan would expect any one of these for a scandal that involves no more than three people. I don't even want to go into detail as to how wrong all of that is, and I've hated this organization since birth. 

The wording of the rule was not "ambigious." You should do some real research on Spygate to see just the LENGTHS Bill went through in order to hide the cheating. The guy had a COMPLEX system in order to avoid being caught. For example, one of the camera man stated that if he were to get caught, Bill told him to "Pretend he was filming something else." Also, there was a memo sent out in 2006 because a certain team (hint hint) was filming illegally, but Bill continued to do so anyway.

Read up on some Spygate articles, they are pretty damning. Bill Belichick definitely knew he was totally breaking the rules and had a systematic way of escaping if he were to be caught. He did not expect a former employee to rat him out though. Notice Bill wasn't too excited when Eric left the Patriots.

Kraft is a lying weasel who knew the Patriots were cheating, and now he is lying even moreso.

If this team goes unpunished NFL will look foolish. Especially after the hammer came Down on The Falcons for fake crowd noise, which to me is the same thing as deflating balls, gives a slight edge to the home. Brady needs to be fined and Suspended same as the VP of operations of Atlanta, the two men involve should be fired and suspended just like the sound guy was.

If these things do not happen to the patriots, then I'm boycotting the NFL

Alright, I'm gonna listen to some pedestrian fan arguing over the dozens of articles I've read on Spygate since 2007 and on Deflategate since it started. I'll believe you saying that Kraft is a lying weasel over practically everybody who has ever met him, worked with him, worked against him, etc. and gushed about how genuine a person he is. And while we're at it, let's just ban the Patriots for the actions of a few individuals acting without the okay from any member of the coaching staff. 

Thank god you're not the commissioner right now. I'd take Goodell kissing ass over your martial law. 

Let me ask you this - what is Spygate, and what did it affect and how long was it taking place for?

Everybody and their mother could see that tom was lying through his teeth. Nobody should trust the Patriot organization and they should be punished severely for this. I think 8 games to a year would be a good ban for Tom, should also cost the Pats some draft picks imo, fines mean nothing in this league.

Spygate was the result of Eric Mangini whistleblowing on his old team (whom he did the taping for), during a Jets game.  (Sept 9th, 2007).  The tape itself was never actually viewed by any Pats staff, as it was confiscated during the game.  And it wasn't actually that they were taping, it's that the taping was being done in a place where club staff members had access too during the game (This was the rule change, that went into effect in 2006, circulated by memo by Ray Anderson).

"...any communications or information-gathering equipment, other than Polaroid-type cameras or field telephones, shall be prohibited...including without limitation...any other form of electronic devices that might aid a team during the playing of a game."

"During the playing of a game" is the key phrase.  Belichick claimed that he thought it was permissible, as long as the footage was not used during the game.  Shady to say the least, and basically doing what he pleased, as long as HE felt it was w/in the letter of the law.  Which is Belichick through and through, really.  Oddly enough, even Mangini claims he never wanted the league to get involved, he just wanted the taping stopped.

As far as 'when did it start', Sept 9th was the beginning of the regular season.  The memo sent by Ray Anderson took effect in 2007.  So...the Jets game was where it started.

One problem..... Bill admitted he was illegally taping since 2000.

Taping has never been illegal.  Viewing the tape taken during a game, however, is.