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."
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.