No, not Wind in the Willows. The Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA), the national telecommunications regulator, reports that the Federal Court in Brisbane today imposed $6.5m in penalties against Scott Moles and Jobspy - two further respondents in proceedings brought by ACMA against SMS spammers.
Those penalties are in addition to $15.75m imposed on five other respondents earlier this year, notably Australian Communications and Media Authority v Mobilegate Ltd A Company Incorporated in Hong Kong (No 2) [2009] FCA 887 (highlighted here and here), bringing aggregate penalties to $22.25m. The hearing in relation to Scott Gregory Phillips, the final respondent, is due to resume on 8 February next year.
In today's judgement the Federal Court hit Jobspy Pty Ltd with a $4m penalty; Scott Mark Moles received a $2.5m penalty.
ACMA had alleged that Jobspy and Moles were involved in a complicated scheme that featured creation of fake dating website profiles to obtain the mobile numbers of genuine dating site users. Those mobiles were then sent messages from people pretending an interest in meeting and forming a relationship. Users who responded to the messages were charged approximately $5 per message, rather than the usual opportunities of heartfelt love and undying emotion. ACMA alleged that the scheme cost Australian mobile users more than $4m since late 2005.
