First offender punished under New Zealand anti-spam law

2009-02-01

Helen Martin

Virus Bulletin, UK
Editor: Helen Martin

Abstract

Spammer faces NZD 100,000 fine.


A New Zealand man has become the first person to be prosecuted for spamming under the country’s 2007 Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act.

Lance Atkinson confessed to having organized a group of people trading under the name Sancash which was responsible for sending more than two million messages over a three-month period at the end of 2007. The messages advertised the products of a company which paid Atkinson a commission of between 53% and 56% of the purchase price of each item sold. Atkinson now faces a fine of NZ$100,000 (approximately £35,000).

Meanwhile, the National Communications Commission of Taiwan has drafted a bill that will allow recipients of spam to claim damages from spammers of between NT$500 and NT$2,000 per email. Statistics from the Taiwan Internet Association indicate that the number of Internet users in Taiwan exceeded 10 million in December and that the country’s users receive an average of 29 spam messages per day. The draft will be submitted for approval next month.

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