Best Buy Fined for Violating Spam Act

According to recent reports received from Australia, the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) have reportedly notified Best Buy Australia, an online retailer in Sydney, that it has allegedly violated the Spam Act 2003 by committing an infringement act.

Reports indicate that the legislation's penalty provisions were implemented in 2004, when Australia ranked tenth on the list of spam-relaying nations. However, by the time year 2007 ended, Australia had come down to the 35th position on the list.

The reports also state that the customers of Best Buy Australia kept on receiving spam mails despite their requests to be eliminated from the retailer's mailing lists.

ACMA said that the commercial e-mails that Best Buy Australia allegedly sent included messages sent by it without taking permission from their recipients, especially after the recipients had withdrawn their willingness for the e-mails. As a result, the company turned into a spam-relaying organization and had to pay for the serious crime it committed.

According to the reports, Best Buy Australia paid $4,400 in late August 2007 to compensate for the spamming activities it undertook.

Meanwhile, after submission of the infringement sum by Best Buy, ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman, said that penalties for not complying with the Spam Act could mean incurring heavy costs, especially for a small enterprises constrained with limited profits, as reported by Australian Communications and Media Authority on September 4, 2008.

Chapman further added that spammers could easily prevent penalties awarded for the breach of Spam Act if they made an effort to understand the basic compliance requirements of the Act.

Chapman explained that this implied all commercial e-mails needed to be sent only with the consent of the recipient, after accurately and clearly revealing the identity of the e-mail's sender along with the provision of an unsubscribe facility, as reported by ITNews on September 5, 2008.

Meanwhile, with the penalty being awarded to Best Buy, ACMA calls on all Internet users to watch out for spammers along with their activities, and the agency also urges them to inform any spamming incident on ACMA's Website or in person.

» SPAMfighter News - 10-09-2008

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