ENFORCERS COMBINE FOR A SPAM DUNK

10 May 2004
60/04

The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the Australian High Tech Crime Centre are working in partnership to identify and track down organisations or individuals who breach the new Spam Act.

As part of their enforcement activities, the ACA has positioned staff inside the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in Canberra. This enables smooth cooperation between enforcement officers and cyber crime experts in investigating breaches of the Spam Act 2003.

The two agencies will also use their expertise to identify messages where the sender information has been fabricated in order to hide the spammer's identity. This is sometimes undertaken to damage the reputation of law-abiding businesses or to trick the recipient into providing their bank account details.

The ACA has received 12,000 complaints about spam and is investigating certain parties that have potentially breached the Spam Act.

The Spam Act 2003 came into full force on 10 April 2004. It prohibits the sending of spam and also lays out rules for sending legitimate commercial electronic messages.

The cooperation between the ACA and the Australian High Tech Crime Centre in enforcing the Spam Act 2003 forms part of the Australian Government's multi-layered approach to fighting the global problem of unsolicited commercial electronic messages, or spam.

The Government's approach to combating spam combines domestic legislation with international negotiation, public education, the development of industry codes of practice and of technical counter-measures.

The Government also recognises the valuable support and assistance offered by many international software and e-security companies.

Companies such as Brightmail, Sophos, SurfControl and Microsoft have volunteered resources, technical assistance and information to aid in identifying breaches of the Spam Act and to track down spammers.

Guides for business and consumers on dealing with spam are available on the ACA website: http://www.aca.gov.au/consumer_info/spam/index.htmand the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts website: http://www2.dcita.gov.au/ie/trust/improving/spam_home.

Media Contact: Carina Tan-Van Baren (02) 6277 7480 or 0439 425 373