That claim was belied by the growth of the register (over one million people signed up within a short time) and community endorsement of DNC litigation. It is also belied by comments in a 77 page report commissioned by ACMA, the national telecommunications regulator.
Community attitudes to unsolicited communications [PDF] "explores community attitudes to unsolicited telemarketing calls and electronic communications, and the awareness and effectiveness of the regimes that regulate these communications".
The report notes that around one in three Australian adults (32%) have registered a number on the DNC Register. Although all of those people have their home number on the Register, only six per cent of all adults have registered their mobile phone numbers. Arguably that is because most people are not yet aware that mobile numbers can be listed and have not become sensitised to inappropriate telemarketing (including speam) involving mobile numbers. "Awareness and knowledge of aspects of the Do Not Call Register Act and the registration process itself are generally low."
The report comments that the Register "appears to have been very effective, particularly for those who have their home phone number registered".
It also suggests that awareness and understanding of spam is "generally high, as is use of spam filters", although email users are typically receiving 23 spam emails per week despite such filtering. SMS or MMS spam is less prevalent, with personal mobile phone users receiving an average of two spam messages per month. Awareness of Australia's anti-spam regime is low, according to ACMA.
The report indicates that
People are generally unsure who they would complain to about unsolicited telemarketing calls. Complaining about unsolicited spam messages, however, is a little clearer, with many opting to contact the telephone or internet service provider. Supporting this, nearly one in four have considered making a complaint, but have not gone through with it (mainly because they didn't know how to).Justice Logan of the Federal Court this week imposed an aggregate $15.75 million in fines under the anti-spam regime on operators of the 'Mobilegate' speam scam noted here in August.
Mobilegate Ltd, Winning Bid Pty Ltd and three individuals were penalised for a scheme involving premium-priced SMS 'adult chat services' that leveraged numbers garnered through fake personal profiles on dating web sites. In August ACMA gained injunctions and declarations against the two companies and Simon Owen, Tarek Salcedo and Glenn Maughan for breaches of the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth).
Mobilegate and Winning Bid were fined $5m and $3.5m respectively, with fines of $3m imposed on Owen, $3m on Salcedo and $1.25m on Maughan. ACMA has announced that it will continue to pursue a further three respondents.
