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SPAM A LOT - SMS Marketing, SPAM And Recent ACMA Activity.

Article Excerpt
The popularity of SMS (or texting) continues to grow. With that, many businesses are using SMS to send regular communications to their customers, including account balance updates, appointment reminders and alerts about new products or services. However, while businesses may be aware of the potential benefits that SMS can deliver, they may not be so certain about the legal regulation surrounding commercial SMS communications.

Many businesses are aware of their obligations under the Spam Act 2003 (Act) in relation to emails, but do not appreciate that the Act applies to all commercial electronic messages, including SMS. Many businesses are not aware of what they must do to satisfy their legal obligations when sending commercial SMS messages.

Recently, the issue of SMS marketing and SPAM has been brought into the spotlight following the Australian Communications and Media Authority's (ACMA) crackdown on SMS marketing and spam, during which ACMA has issued significant fines and instituted Federal Court proceedings. The consequences of fines, court actions and penalties can be significant, from a monetary, regulatory and reputational point of view. ACMA's powers are broad, and the fines and penalties that can be imposed are significant.

ACMA's recent activities In January 2009, Optus received the second largest fine issued since the introduction of the Act (and the largest issued in respect of SMS marketing) for sending 20,000 commercial SMS messages to its mobile customers. The messages contained promotional material relating to the OptusZoo mobile entertainment service.

While the messages identified the sender as '966' (which can equate to 'ZOO' when typed into a mobile phone keypad), ACMA considered that this was inadequate identification of the sender, as '966' could represent a number of different letter combinations on a mobile phone keypad. Optus was offered the opportunity to provide an enforceable undertaking to resolve ACMA's claim, but the...

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