TPG pays price for faulty ‘unsubscribe’ function

ISP slapped with $360k fine for Spam Act breaches

Internet service provider TPG has forked over $360,000 for breaches of the Spam Act 2003.

The fine followed an investigation launched by the Australian Communications and Media Authority which received complaints from consumers that they had not been able to successfully unsubscribe from commercial TPG emails.

The investigation found that during April this year unsubscribe requests were not successfully processed by TPG’s systems.

The communications regulator said that TPG had co-operated with its investigation, admitted the breach and taken steps to remedy the causes.

“This is a timely reminder to anyone who conducts email or SMS marketing to make sure the systems they have for maintaining their marketing lists are working well and comply with the Act,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

“Consumers have a right to expect that their requests to unsubscribe from marketing messages will be respected,” O’Loughlin said.

In FY17, the ACMA received 849,928 complaints and reports relating to spam — a 59 per cent year on year increase.

In response to the growth in spam complaints, the ACMA says this year it is implementing process improvements and a new priority compliance area approach for unsolicited communications.

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Tags spamTPGAustralian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

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