Australian Anti-Spam Law Sees Good Results

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

26 July 2004

The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) on Thursday revealed that the tough new anti-spam laws introduced in April of this year have been effective in reducing the volume of spam e-mails received by the Commonwealth's internet users.

Under the terms of the legislation, businesses which send unsolicited commercial e-mails can be fined up to A$1.1 million a day until they desist from doing so. The ACA revealed that it has received 30,000 spam reports since the Spam Act came into force, has advised 100 businesses to improve their e-mail practices, and has served formal notice threatening fines if action is not taken to four firms.

Speaking last week, ACA acting chairman Bob Horton held the legislation up as a blueprint for the rest of the world, explaining that:

"The ACA's initial focus was on spammers allegedly sending high volumes of offensive unsolicited material including pornography and marketing for products such as herbal Viagra. At the end of the first three months of the Spam Act it appears that these particular major players have stopped operating in Australia because complaints about them stopped when the act came in on 10 April."

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