[LINK] spammer fined

[Adam Todd]

At 09:02 PM 23/06/2007, Jan Whitaker wrote:
>http://australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21949015-15306,00.html
>
>Watchdog hits local spammers
>Mahesh Sharma | June 22, 2007
>
>THE communications regulator has imposed its heaviest fine for 
>beaches of the Spam Act, dishing out over $15,000 in penalties.
>The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said Pitch 
>Entertainment Group, which trades as Splash Mobile in Australia, was 
>fined $11,000 for sending out over one million commercial text 
>messages without a functional unsubscribe facility.

KEHWHAT!

You mean that the SPAMMER need only have a "To unsubscribe from this 
message, click/email XYZ."

Yeah right.  Great.  So you click/email and they put you on another 
list after your address is confirmed as working.

How about "sending out one million commercial text messages without 
seeking permission to use the email address."

I'm actually pursuing a test case presently that makes an Email 
Address seen to be the same as property and in that light, the 
receipt of SPAM is a trespass upon property unless the sender has a 
licence or the recipient willing receives and grants receipt.

This could resolve, in a civil process, the issues of SPAM quite 
quickly if people sending SPAM are suddenly landed with multiple law suits :)


>The Spam Act, 2003 regulates unsolicited commercial electronic 
>messaging in Australia.

Obviously not well.  Considering $15,000 as the penalty, the revenue 
from the SPAM was probably far greater.

That fine is less than 0.015 cents per address (or message) which is 
peanuts in the marketing world.

It costs 45 cents to send a letter by post!  0.015 cents in fines is 
dirt cheap!


>The fine is the largest imposed by ACMA to date and has been levied 
>with the imposition of stringent compliance reporting and staff 
>education obligations.
>
>ACMA also fined IMP Mobile $4400 for the same breach.

Cheaper, faster and more direct that Aussie Post!