ACA: first spam prosecutions in sight

The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) today revealed it has teamed up with federal law enforcement bodies to target a number of suspected spammers for investigation.

Anthony Wing, manager of the ACA's anti-spam team, warned spammers to take the move very seriously. He predicted that the ACA would start laying charges against spammers sometime "this calendar year".

"If people want to breach the Act and continue to do so, then there's no reason not to go further," said Wing.

Wing was today tight-lipped about the details of the investigation, however he said that the ACA had issued a "fair few" advice notifications since reporting last month that it had several organisations under observation.

"We're investigating certain parties that have breached the Spam Act. We receive a large number of complaints and we generally respond by telling the person involved that they need to comply with the Act," said Wing.

The ACAs said its partnership with the AHTCC is part of the government's multilayered approach in fighting spam, designed to enable "smooth cooperation" on cyber crime investigations.

As part of the strategy some of the communications regulator's staff have been seconded to the Australian High Tech Crime Centre (AHTCC) to pursue the spam investigation.

The ACA said it has received 12,000 spam complaints since the legislations enactment. However, Wing claimed the ACA was managing them "very effectively".