To those who think that the Spam Act 2003 of Australia applies to emails only, think again.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) recently was successful in obtaining orders from the Federal Court of Australia against at least four Australian companies and individuals for breaching the Spam Act 2003 by sending unsolicited SMS.
Australia’s Spam Act 2003 regulates the sending of commercial electronic messages which can be emails, SMS messages, MMS messages, instant messaging messages or any other similar messages.
According to ACMA, this is the first time it has taken court action against companies sending SMS spam.
For a commercial electronic message not to be classified as a spam, it must meet three requirements:
Consent – The message must be sent with the recipient’s consent either expressed or inferred.
Identify – The message must contain clear and accurate information about the person or organisation that authorised the sending of the message
Unsubscribe – The message must contain a functional ‘unsubscribe’ facility to allow the recipient to opt out from receiving messages from that source in the future.
So next time you receive a commercial message in your email or in your mobile phone, ask yourself: Does the message meet the requirements of the Spam Act? If not, then, chances are, it is a spam.
If you wish to seek more information about spam or wish to complain about spam, you can do so at ACMA’s spam website at www.spam.acma.gov.au or call 1300 855 180.
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