Car sales site fined over SMS spam

Carsales.com.au, a classified advertisements Web site, has been fined AU$6,600 by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) for sending unsolicited SMS messages to potential customers.

The ACA said in a statement that it took action after receiving complaints from members of the public.

Carsales.com.au's privacy policy states it will send "messages to mobile phone numbers that are copied from classified advertisements which were most likely published in newspapers or magazines. The advertising messages that we send are for services directly related to your advertisement."

However, Dr Bob Horton, acting chairman of the ACA, said the Spam Act was an "opt-in law". Just because members of the public publish their phone numbers in an advertisement, he said, they do not consent to receiving unsolicited messages.

"The ACA believes that those people selling cars published their telephone numbers in classified ads only so potential buyers could contact them... They did not consent to receiving commercial SMS messages advertising a car sales Web site from a company they had no relationship with, and who collected their mobile phone numbers from the newspapers," said Horton.

According to the ACA, carsales.com.au claimed to have made an honest mistake. The company assured the ACA it would take all necessary steps to ensure that it complied with the Spam Act in future.

However, on the carsales.com.au Web site on Tuesday afternoon, the company had not yet updated its privacy policy to adhere to the ACA's decision.

The Web sites states: "If you have received an SMS message from us, you can opt out by replying to the message. Each SMS message contains instructions about how to opt out. When you reply to our message, we receive your reply as an e-mail and will opt you out from further SMS messages upon receipt. If you opt out from our SMS messages we will not send another message to your mobile number unless you give us approval to do so... We believe that our processes comply with the strict requirements of Australian Privacy and Anti Spam legislation."

Talkback 7 comments

    The system works! Slowly, but ...Anonymous -- 06/04/05

    The system works! Slowly, but it works.
    After an email discussion with Carsales.com.au last July I registered a complaint with the ACA. This complaint was initially closed by the ACA as I understand a letter was sent to carsales.com.au advising them to cease the SMS spam. I received an email from the ACA on the 1/4/05 advising me that subsequent complains from other consumers had resulted in the infringement notices being issued against carsales.com.au.
    While $6600 is probably little more than an inconvenience to carsales.com.au it serves as a warning that the Australian anti-spam legislation cannot be ignored.

    Car sales site fined over SMS spam Liam Patterson -- 09/06/06 (in reply to #120115426)

    I found a site that would advertise my car for free on the internet, http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au

    These guys are fantastic, and they are free.

    Define Irony Anonymous -- 20/05/07 (in reply to #120135705)

    Way to insult reader's intelligence!

    Does anyone see the hypocrisy ...Anonymous -- 06/04/05

    Does anyone see the hypocrisy here? Day after day we all get mail in our mailbox at home and business box, flyers, brochures etc that we do not ask for. "Just becuase we live in a house and have a mailbox does not mean we want brochures on stuff that people in houses might want to buy". The basic principle the ACA applied to carsales.com.au

    This stuff we recieve at these mailboxes in our home require more effort, more expense and is something physical we have to deal with. More damaging to the environment and public waste systems than it's electronic versions of the same. Yet people will accept this stuff but verhmently will not accept electronic messages.

    We know in a free-market world that this stuff we recieve in our house mailboxes greezes the wheels of the econonmy and is important to business to generate business.

    I think people complain about electronic versions of direct mail becuase... it is easy.

    I figured the anti-spam act was more to stop off topic stuff, to stop people from sending out scammer type communications.

    The legislation should be like the US where companies can send communications and people can opt-out if they want to reiceve no more. Just like people can put a "No Direct Mail Here" on their mailbox.

    In the case of SMS it is the telecoms providers that are responsible for controlling it. Just like customers of ISP's and us web hosts make us ISP's and web hosts responsible for handling these messages.

    Car sales site fined over SMS spam Tim -- 09/06/06 (in reply to #120115434)

    Well the web site http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au helped me sell my car, for free! And I did not receive any unsolicited email or text message. If these guys can do it and charge nothing (and their site says they have NEVER charged for advertising), are you saying we should just accept that we pay (James Packer 40% stakeholding) and advertise on car sales when www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au will do it for free. Think about it!

    Way to SPAM Anonymous -- 02/06/09 (in reply to #120135706)

    What makes you think we're going to use unique carblahb;ah when clearly you are SPAMming comments. If that's the best you can do to promote your site- I'm staying as far away from you as possible.

    Spam Investigations Anonymous -- 23/08/07

    If you were charged on your cell phone bill for ringtones or other mobile content that you never ordered, you might want to get in touch with some class action attorneys.

    These guys are investigating unauthorized cell phone charges and wireless text message SMS spam and might be able to help you fight back:

    www.ClassActionConnect.com/?q=node/680

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