$5.5 million fine for spamming
Australia’s communications watchdog has warned that internet spammers would face devastating fines after a Perth man and his company were hit with a $5.5 million penalty for sending unsolicited emails in the first prosecution of its kind in Australia.
Wayne Mansfield faces financial ruin after Federal Court Justice Robert Nicholson yesterday fined him $1 million and his business seminar company Clarity1 Pty Ltd $4.5 million in a 19-page judgment.
Clarity1 sent more than 213 million commercial emails, 41 million of them to 5.6 million addresses illegally “harvested” from the internet, between April 2004 and April 2006.
The nature of the breaches of the Spam Act, enacted in April 2004, was “flagrant and unapologetic”, the judgment said.
Australian Communications and Media Authority anti-spam team manager Bruce Matthews said it was the first successful prosecution under the Act. “We are very happy with the decision because we think it sends a very strong message to potential Australian spammers that we will vigorously enforce the Spam Act,” he said.
The decision would send shock waves through the internet industry. “It certainly will receive significant international attention,” he said.
Richard Keeves, president of the anti-spam Internet Industry Association, said: “I suppose at some level you would say (Mr Mansfield and Clarity1) are being made an example of but I think it is a perfectly legitimate process.”
Mr Mansfield said he was disappointed at the “considerable fines”. “Obviously I will consider my options, including the possibility of an appeal on the amount of the fines, but we have, personally and as a business, moved on and no longer are involved in any activities that the decision refers to,” he said.
The fines are more than 10 times the penalty imposed on former Telstra director Steve Vizard for using confidential information to make sharemarket plays in three companies.
Mr Mansfield’s Business Seminars Australia fell into liquidation in March 2004 owing creditors more than $206,000. This year he set up Blast! Into 2007 and 272 Corporation.
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 12th, 2006 at 6:13 pm and is filed under world wide web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
