Wayne Mansfield - Proceedings Under The Spam Act of 2003

Proceedings Under The Spam Act of 2003

In June 2005 the then Australian Communications Authority (ACA) (Now known as the Australian Communications & Media Authority - ACMA) brought proceedings against Mansfield and his new company, Clarity1 under the recently-passed Spam Act 2003 where ACMA alleged that they were involved in the sending of 56 million spam emails during 2004. He however insisted that sending commercial emails was his "right", but claimed he had not harvested any new email addresses since the Spam Act came into force, arguing that because he had started spamming the recipients before the Spam Act and the recipients had not unsubscribed, he could infer consent (an argument that did not find favour with the Court). He also stated that telephone operators at his company had been subjected to abuse by irate callers, but promised that unsubscribe requests were handled "within minutes". He defended his campaign, citing 20,000 attendees at his business seminars.

ACMA's complaint in this matter was upheld in the Australia Federal Court on 13 April 2006. The Court imposed a penalty of A$4.5 million on Clarity1, and A$1 million on Wayne Mansfield, on 27 October 2006.