The ACMA has reported that it has successfully prosecuted a case against the first person and company to be convicted under the Australian Spam Act.

The ACMA has reported that it has successfully prosecuted a case against the first person and company to be convicted under the Australian Spam Act.

Perth-based Wayne Mansfield, and his company Clarity1 were found to have sent in excess of 56 million spam messages in the year following the Act’s introduction in April 2004.

According to the ACMA, the judge overseeing the case held in Federal Court in Perth, Justice Nicholson, said he rejected the company’s defence that the recipients of emails had consented to receive them.

The defence that the company could use harvested lists acquired before the Spam Act commenced to send Spam emails at any time, was also rejected.

‘The fact that address-harvesting may have occurred at a time when no such prohibition was in the law, does not prevent the application of the provision in its term from the date it came into force,’ Nicholson said in an ACMA statement.

ACMA chairman, Chris Chapman said the ruling had been an important test case in proving the effectiveness of the Spam Act.

“The receipt of spam imposes significant cost and inconvenience on individuals and businesses by disrupting email delivery, clogging up computer systems, reducing productivity, wasting time, irritating users and raising the cost of internet access fees,” he said.

The Federal Court will advise of the determination of penalties at a later date.