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Posts Tagged ‘ACMA’

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 | Comments Off

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 | Comments Off

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 | Comments Off

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 | Comments Off

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 | Comments Off