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Posts Tagged ‘ACMA’

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued the first round of licences for additional spectrum for mobile telecommunications services at hundreds of sites throughout remote and regional Australia.

In the first round, Optus was successful in securing licences for 972 sites.

The ACMA received applications in response to an invitation for interested parties to apply for radiocommunications licences in the 2 Ghz band during May 2010. The 2 GHz band is used by mobile carriers to provide 3G mobile services.

In announcing the award of licences ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman said:

I am delighted by the high level of demand from industry for additional spectrum in the 2 GHz band in regional and remote Australia.

It is expected that a second round of licensing will take place following an assessment of Telstra’s application for multiple sites.

The ACMA expect that this process will lead to a significant increase in the availability of 3G mobile phone services in regional and remote Australia, based on the number of sites applied for by Optus and Telstra.

Tags: ACMA, ISP lawyer, Spectrum Licensing, Telco Law, telco lawyer, telecommunications law, telecommunications lawyer
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law | No Comments »

Consumers will have the choice of barring all premium SMS from their mobile phones as of 1 July 2010, with the latest package of measures announced by the ACMA.

The ACMA has said that the package has been created so that “…mobile users can feel confident they will only receive and pay for services they actually want”.

In a meeting with senior representatives of mobile phone companies the ACMA will discuss the possibility of the introduction of a service where consumers can request quick and easy barring via SMS.

Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman regarding premium SMS services have decreased by an astonishing rate of 50% following measures introduced by ACMA last year. As the ACMA is hoping that this trend will continue, it will be closely monitoring the industry over the next 12 months to ensure that consumer concerns are adequately being dealt with.

Recent enforceable undertakings that the ACMA has accepted from Funmobile Australia Pty Limited, which included a payment of $55 000, emphasize the ACMA’s commitment to pursuing telcos which repeatedly operate in breach of the law.

Industry has welcomed the new package as a further reinforcement of the existing suite of consumer protection measures included in the Communications Alliance Mobile Premium Services Industry Code C637:2009.

Despite both consumers and industry receiving the package with a warm welcome, the telcos will be hit hard. In a quote published by Computer World, Warren Chaisatien, research director and principle analyst at Telstyle, says that although the rule will aid consumers who have unintentionally signed up to a premium services, it is likely to have a negative impact on telco revenues as the premium SMS market was worth approximately $250 million in 2009.

Tags: ACMA, isp law, ISP Lawyers, Premium SMS, telco lawyer, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers, telo lawyers
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, Trade Practices Law, Uncategorized | No Comments »

In a landmark move, the ACMA has for the first time brought an action in the Federal Court  against Telco GoTalk for an alleged breaches of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006.

The ACMA alleges that GoTalk via its two offshore calls centres called 40,000 numbers contained on the Do Not Call Register.

Breaches of this kind have proven to be costly for infringing companies in the past, with Dodo Australia being issued a fine of $147 400 in 2008 for its call centres ringing 67 de-listed Australian phone numbers.

This isn’t the first sign of trouble for GoTalk. Last year the company accepted undertakings by the ACCC to record telemarketing calls and to monitor conversations at random to ensure compliance with the TPA, in response to allegations that its offshore call centres had misrepresented information to consumers, including pricing and terms and conditions.

The matter is listed for directions on 29 March 2010 in the Federal Court in Sydney.

Tags: ACMA, Do Not Call Register, Do Not Register Call Act, GoTalk, ISP lawyer, ISP Lawyers, IT Lawyers, telecommunications lawyer, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, Spam, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Federal Court has issued a fine of $15.75 Million against spammers found guilty of using an elaborate scheme to deceptively obtain mobile phone numbers and spam them.

In August 2009 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (‘ACMA’) obtained default judgment against Mobilegate Ltd and Winning Bid Pty Ltd – and three individuals – Mr Simon Anthony Owen, Mr Tarek Andreas Salcedo and Mr Glenn Christopher Maughan.

The action commenced in late 2008 when the ACMA learned of the highly organised plan, where the ACMA alleges the spammers obtained mobile telephone numbers from dating websites, after posing as members of these websites. It is then alleged that:

• after the numbers were obtained, unsolicited messages were sent to the mobile phone numbers offering the opportunity to chat via SMS using services described as the ‘Safe Divert’ or ‘Maybemeet’ services;
• the chat was not offered by genuine members of dating websites but employees of Mobilegate and Winning Bid;
• consumers were charged up to five dollars per message; and
• when users questioned whether the messages were from a real person, they were told that it was a real person who was using the “Safe Divert” service to keep their mobile phone number private.

The ACMA claims that the spammers obtained more than $2 million from their scheme, which was in contravention of the Spam Act 2003.

The judgment is seen as a win for the ACMA in its fight against breaches of the Spam Act 2003, and is sure to serve as a serious warning to potential spammers.

Earlier this year the ACMA issued fines against Optus for breaches of the Spam Act 2003, as part of its campaign against spammers.

Tags: ACMA, Cooper Mills Lawyers, IT Lawyers, Spam, Spam Act 2003, Spam Lawyers, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in General, Spam | No Comments »

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has obtained an enforceable undertaking from MYOB Australia E1 Pty Ltd for breaches of the Spam Act 2003.

Following an investigation by the ACMA, a SmartyHost, division of MYOB was found to have been sending emails to people who had unsubscribed from its mailing lists. The ACMA found that SmartyHost had not actioned the unsubscribe requests.

Chris Chapman, Chairman of the ACMA said:

The Spam Act makes it clear that commercial electronic messages cannot be sent without the consent of the recipient….. As such it is central to the working of the scheme that recipients of such messages have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.

s18 of the Spam Act 2003 makes it a specific requirement that commercial electronic messages must have an unsubscribe facility (that works!) which must remain active for at least 30 days after the message is sent.

The ACMA’s action is consistent with its recent get tough approach to enforcement of Spam and the Do Not Call Register

Tags: ACMA, IT Lawyer, Spam Act 2003, Telecommunication Lawyers
Posted in Spam | No Comments »

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) yesterday announced that Australia’s largest Telco Telstra breached the Do Not Call Register Act (“Act”) and was fined $101,200.

The ACMA claims that one of Telstra’s external call centres in Australia made telemarketing calls to numbers listed on the Do Not Call Register (the Register). The ACMA began investigations in August 2008 following a raft of consumer complaints about calls to numbers listed on the Do Not Call Register. According to the ACMA:

The investigation found that inadequate compliance systems, procedures and supervision had contributed to calls being made to numbers on the Register where the consumers were not existing Telstra customers.

In addition to the fine, Telstra was forced to enter into enforceable undertakings with the ACMA, which included the appointment of external consultants to review Telstra’s compliance procedures.

In clarifying its expectations, the ACMA said that it:

expects large businesses like Telstra to be leading the way and setting an example when it comes to compliance with the Do Not Call Register – not falling behind.

This is at odds with its earlier treatment of the Westpac Bank who only received a warning for breaches earlier this year – Westpac Bank breaches Act.

In commenting on the ACMA’s action, Cooper Mills Director and IT & T Lawyer Erhan Karabardak said that:

It is positive to see that the ACMA is taking enforcement of the Act seriously, but the inconsistency in penalties may be something for the ACMA to consider in future. Although each case needs to be assessed on its own facts, any perceived inconsistencies in treatment may undermine the efforts of the ACMA.

Tags: ACMA, Erhan Karabardak, ISP Lawyers, IT Lawyers, Telco Lawyers, Telecom Lawyers, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Privacy | No Comments »

The ACMA has issued ISP, Green Tree Frog, with a remedial direction, arising out of its alleged failure to comply with directions of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (‘TIO’) in two separate instances.

According to ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman:

All members of the TIO Scheme have an obligation to comply with the responsibilities established under the scheme as well as those established by the legislation that governs the industry….In issuing this direction, ACMA has undertaken the appropriate enforcement action to prevent Green Tree Frog from continuing to contravene its regulatory obligations.

The failure to comply arose out of two instances in which among other things, the TIO directed that Green Tree Frog “pay money to a customer and waive their early termination fee“.

We previously reported that another ISP had failed to comply with the TIO scheme and had been issued with a direction by the ACMA. The ACMA in line with its recently processes, has once again exercised its statutory powers to compel compliance.

Whilst the ACMA is bound to enforce the law, bigger questions about the role of the TIO and its impartiality have in the recent past been in issue. Only time will tell whether the industry will make a stand on this issue.

Tags: ACMA, isp law, ISP Lawyers, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers
Posted in ISP and Telco Law | No Comments »

German domain name regulator, DENIC, has taken down the popular website www.wikileaks.de shortly after it published ACMA’s internet filtering trial black list.

Recent reports have emerged of the ACMA internet filtering trial black list having been published on different websites, potentially compromising the Government’s current internet filtering trials. One such website was www.Wikileaks.de.

Wikileaks had been known for its collection of leaked documents, according to ARS Technica:

Wikileaks has built up an impressive portfolio of leaked documents like those from secretive religious organizations, congressional reports, specs for military hardware capable of jamming IEDs used by insurgents in Iraq, and even its own donors list. In doing so, it has found few friends in governments and courts, with one judge even ordering its DNS record be erased after documents from Swiss Bank Julius Baer were uploaded to the site.

ARS Technica have also reported that German police raided the residence of the German domain name registrant Theodor Reppe who denies any involvement in the posting of leaked documents. The raids are reported to have come shortly after the ACMA blacklist was published. It is unknown at this stage, what involvement if any, ACMA had in closing down this website.

Another mirror site of wikileaks.de, which is hosted on a different domain, still shows links to different versions of what they claim is the secret ACMA black list.

Tags: ACMA, internet censorship, internet filtering, IT Law, IT Lawyers, telecommunications law
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law | No Comments »

Telecommunications companies have been the biggest offenders for contacting people on the Do Not Call Register, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

The Do Not Call Register was introduced on 31 May 2007 to allow individuals to stop receiving a wide range of unsolicited telemarketing calls. ACMA is responsible for overseeing the register’s operation and for investigating breaches of the Do Not Call Register Act.

In the first year of the register’s operation, telecommunications companies were responsible for 55 per cent of complaints received by ACMA. The complaints have resulted from unwanted calls promoting phone plans and other related services.

The ACMA have signalled a new approach, with ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman stating “Businesses have had ample time to adjust to the new laws and by now should have robust compliance measures in place,”.

We think that this new approach will result in more investigations and potential prosecutions, fines or enforceable undertakings. It is even more reason for business to increase vigilance when planning marketing campaigns in particular.

There are services available to allow call lists to be ‘washed’ against the Do Not Call Register to assist with statutory compliance.

Key facts

*During 2007–08, there were 28,804 complaints received.

*Of these, 23,336 involved potential breaches of the Do Not Call Register Act.

*Over the past 12 months, ACMA has issued four infringement notices to telecommunications companies. This includes a penalty of close to $150,000 issued to Dodo Australia.

*ACMA has accepted enforceable undertakings from Dodo, as well as Astron Communications and People Telecom. Formal warnings have also been issued to Global Telelinks, Ezycall and m8 Telecom.

*ACMA estimates that 5 per cent of the businesses involved in complaints are responsible for approximately 70 per cent of the total complaints received. ACMA’s formal investigations are focusing on these businesses.

Tags: ACMA, Do Not Call Register Act, ISP, ISP and Telco Law, statutory compliance, telcos, telecommunications
Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law | No Comments »

In a decision that should send a warning to all Australian ISPs and Telcos, Optus Networks Pty Ltd (‘Optus’) has been fined $110,000 for breaching the Spam Act 2003.

The penalties were the result of two infringement notices issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) after Optus allegedly sent electronic messages without accurate sender identification.

The infringements

The infringement notices were in relation to 20,000 commercial electronic messages sent by Optus to the carrier’s mobile phones users, to promote its OptusZoo entertainment service. The messages were sent with a sender identification of ‘966’ (these numbers spell out ‘Zoo’ on a phone keypad).

ACMA claims that Optus assumed that recipients of the messages would make the connection between ‘966’ and ‘Zoo’.

As we all know, 966 can represent a number of different words on a key pad, for example Zon or Yon.

Spam Act 2003

The Spam Act 2003 regulates unsolicited commercial electronic messaging in Australia. Commercial electronic messages include emails, SMS messages and MMS messages.

The Act sets outs that commercial electronic messages must involve direct or inferred consent, identify the sender and give the recipient the ability to unsubscribe.

The Spam Act provides a range of enforcement options, including formal warnings, enforceable undertakings, infringement notices and Federal Court proceedings. The legislation sets out penalties of up to $1.1 million a day for repeat corporate offenders.

We think that this will not be the last of the fines in light of a chain of recent investigations in the ISP Telco market, and comes hot on the heels of an enforceable undertaking given by Oxygen8 Communications last month.

It is still surprising to see that many clients still come to us with marketing campaigns for review, which in some way fall foul of the Spam Act – of even more surprise is that simple Spam Act compliance requirements, such as functional unsubscribe facilities, were not included in proposed email campaigns.

Tags: ACMA, email, Fines, ISP, ISP and Telco Law, MMS, Regulatory compliance, SMS, Spam, Spam Act 2003, Telco
Posted in ISP and Telco Law, Spam | No Comments »