19 August 2009
ACMA granted injunctions and declarations in landmark SMS spam case
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has been successful in obtaining injunctions and declarations against a number of parties involved in the ACMA’s first SMS spam case before the Federal Court. The matter relates to the sending of unsolicited commercial SMS messages.
Justice Logan gave default judgment on 14 August, against five respondents, Mobilegate Ltd, Winning Bid Pty Ltd, Mr Simon Anthony Owen, Mr Tarek Andreas Salcedo and Mr Glenn Christopher Maughan, concerning breaches of the Spam Act 2003.
‘This is the first SMS spam case that the ACMA has brought before the courts,’ said Chris Chapman, Chairman of the ACMA. ‘The significant resources that the ACMA has put into this matter, again demonstrates our commitment to protecting Australians against illegal conduct.’
The ACMA instituted proceedings against eight respondents in the Federal Court in Brisbane in December 2008 alleging contraventions of the Spam Act 2003 and the Trade Practices Act 1974 in relation to premium SMS chat services. The ACMA alleged that the respondents were engaged in a complicated scheme to obtain mobile phone numbers from members of dating websites, using fake member profiles, in order to send commercial electronic messages by SMS.
Unsolicited messages were then sent to the mobile phone numbers offering the opportunity to chat via SMS using services described as the ‘Safe Divert’ or ‘Maybemeet’ services. The chat was not offered by genuine members of dating websites but employees of Mobilegate Ltd and Winning Bid Pty Ltd. Consumers were charged up to five dollars per message.
In delivering his judgment Justice Logan noted that the conduct alleged disclosed ‘sustained and systemic violation of statutory prohibitions rather than a mere isolated aberration.’
A hearing as to penalty is pending against the five aforementioned respondents.
A further hearing is scheduled to commence on 30 November against the remaining three respondents.
Australians are encouraged to report spam to the ACMA by visiting the website at www.spam.acma.gov.au or calling 1300 855 180.
Media contact: ACMA Media Manager, Donald Robertson, on (02) 9334 7980.
Backgrounder
The Spam Act 2003 regulates unsolicited commercial electronic messages in Australia. Commercial electronic messages can be emails, SMS messages, MMS messages, instant messaging messages or any other similar messages.
The Act sets out that commercial electronic messages must have the following features:
- Consent – it must be sent with the recipient’s consent. They may give express consent, or consent may be inferred from their conduct and ‘existing business or other relationships’;
- Identify – it must contain clear and accurate information about the person or organisation that authorised the sending of the message; and
- Unsubscribe – it must contain a functional ‘unsubscribe’ facility to allow the recipient to opt out from receiving message from that source in the future.
The penalty provisions of the legislation came into force in 2004. At that time Australia was tenth in the ranking of spam-relaying countries for email spam, according to the Sophos list. For the 2008 calendar year, Australia had fallen to 32nd.
The Spam Act provides a range of enforcement options and the ACMA determines an appropriate action on a case-by-case basis. Formal warnings are used by the ACMA to indicate concerns about alleged contraventions and allow for the business or individual to take compliance action to prevent any future contraventions.
Enforceable undertakings can be offered to the ACMA at any time and provide the opportunity for a business or individual to formalise its commitment to compliance with the Spam Act. The ACMA may also give an infringement notice in relation to particular civil penalty provisions. In addition, the ACMA can lodge proceedings in the Federal Court, including seeking an injunction. The legislation sets out penalties of up to $1.1 million a day for repeat corporate offenders.
In December 2008, the ACMA commenced proceedings against MobileGate Ltd, Jobspy Pty Ltd, Winning Bid Pty Ltd, Simon Anthony Owen, Tarek Andreas Salcedo, Glenn Christopher Maughan, Scott Mark Moles and Scott Gregory Phillips. This is the first time the ACMA has taken court action against companies sending unsolicited SMS spam. In the only previous proceeding brought by the ACMA under the Spam Act, the Federal Court in 2006 ordered Clarity1 Pty Ltd and Mr Wayne Mansfield to pay $4.5 million and $1 million respectively, for sending unsolicited emails, and for using harvested address lists.
In May 2009, the ACMA was granted interlocutory orders in the case. These orders required the respondents to refrain from a variety of activity involving the use of dating websites, including the use of fictitious profiles, using photographs without permission and contacting website users.
Consumers seeking more information about spam or wishing to complain about spam they may have received can do so at the ACMA’s spam website: www.spam.acma.gov.au or by calling 1300 855 180.
