$4 Million Fine for Spam

The past week we have witnessed a Microsoft victory worth applauding as the Redmond Company prevailed in a legal battle against Scott Richter, the "Spam King", and his OptInRealBig.com Company from Colorado.

Now, in the land down under, a spam company has been sentenced to pay $4.1 million USD. Wayne Mansfield, and his company Clarity1 based in Perth, Western Australia have received the financial penalty after sending an estimated 200 million spam emails within a year.

"This is the first time that spammers have been successfully prosecuted under the Australian Spam Act, and represents a victory for the authorities and the man in the street pestered by nuisance email," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Spam is a global problem, and robust action needs to be taken against spammers wherever they are based in the world in order to send out a clear message that their activities are unacceptable. Substantial penalties must be handed out to those people who choose to spam and spam again in their hunt for a quick profit."

The Australian Spam Act was introduced in April 2004 and the Clarity1 Company was rated in April 2005. Mansfield was fueling a global spamming effort, and complaints about the activities of Clarity1 that were received from the U.K. Wayne Mansfield has defended himself and the company by claiming that the recipients had consented to receiving spam emails, but Justice Nicholson of the Federal Court in Perth rejected his plea.

"Australia's Spam Act is a first step towards eradicating locally produced spam. However, it is only through the combination of international cooperation, local legislation, law enforcement, technology enforcement and user education that will help put a stop to spam," continued Cluley.