An Australian company and its director have been fined a
total of Aus$5.5m (£2.2m) after sending out more than 200m spam
e-mails over a 12-month period.
The Perth-based spammer, Wayne Mansfield, and his company
Clarity1, were found to have illegally sent out the messages in the
12 months since Australian spam laws were introduced in April
2004.
In 2006, authorities in Australia raided a suspected spam
factory in Perth, during which the contents of computer hard discs
and other material were seized.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at internet security
software firm Sophos, said, "This is the first time that spammers
have been successfully prosecuted under the Australian Spam Act,
and represents a victory for the authorities and the man in the
street pestered by nuisance e-mail.”
Earlier this year, the Federal Court in Perth rejected defence
pleas in the case that recipients had consented to receive the spam
e-mails.
Complaints about Mansfield's spam had been received from UK
internet users and other countries, in addition to complaints
received in Australia.