Mobile premium service provider warned by ACMA

ACMA today announced a formal warning to Hyarchis Company Limited for alleged breaches of the Spam Act 2003 using SMS.

Hyarchis is a mobile content provider that operates a ‘ringtone club’ and some social networking sites.    It despatched SMS promotions to an Australian mobile user, without having consent to do so.

On this occasion, ACMA has used its discretion not to impose a penalty, but noted that penalties of up to $1.1 million per day can apply to repeat offenders.

The lessons:

• Promotional email, SMS, MMS, IM and any other similar messages are all regulated by the Spam Act.
• You can’t send them to Australians without actual or inferred consent.