14 DAY TRIAL // The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) wants to show that illegal marketers shouldn’t believe that they can get away with it after spamming users. The agency has notified a couple of companies and gave them 28 days to respond before monetary fines totaling over £250,000 ($400,000 or 313,000 EUR) are issued.
The unnamed organizations are said to have sent out millions of spam texts, thus violating the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
“The public have told us that they are increasingly concerned about the illegal marketing texts and calls. These are often made by rogue companies claiming to offer pay outs for accidents a person has never had or PPI claims that they are not necessarily entitled to,” ICO Director of Operations Simon Entwisle wrote in a blog post.
Entwisle explains that companies are allowed to call up individuals in an attempt to sell services or products, but they’re not allowed to send out large numbers of unsolicited text messages or make automated calls without permission.
“We know many companies are failing to do this and two individuals responsible for sending millions of illegal marketing messages are now facing six figure penalties unless they can prove otherwise,” he added.
“It would be inappropriate to provide further comment until both individuals have had the opportunity to reply, but we are already working to identify other individuals and companies involved in these unlawful practices.”
Starting with March 2012, the ICO began asking members of the public to report illegal marketing schemes. So far, around 30,000 complaints have been made and the agency plans to put them to good use by linking the information to the responsible companies.
Here’s a video in which ICO Director of Operations Simon Entwisle answers some frequently asked questions regarding spam calls and texts:
