International Law

ACMA fines Optus for spam text messages

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued two infringement notices to the value of $110,000 to Optus Networks Pty Ltd for allegedly sending electronic messages without accurate sender identification, in contravention of the Spam Act 2003.

The infringement notices were in relation to 20,000 commercial electronic messages sent by Optus that ACMA alleges failed to provide clear and accurate sender identification. The messages promoted the OptusZoo entertainment service to Optus customer mobile phones with the sender identification ?966?.

Although Optus argued that "966" was the numeric equivalent of Zoo, this was not considered sufficient identification, as "966" could be used to represent any number of permutations on a telephone keypad.

When ACMA and Optus could not agree on an enforceable undertaking, ACMA issued the infringement notices.

Optus has paid the amounts specified in the infringement notices and has advised that new compliance measures have been implemented that will ensure accurate sender identification is included in all commercial electronic messages.

Full post as published by Australian Regulatory Compliance Review on January 14, 2009 (boomark / email).