Hyarchis rep objects to ACMA spam warning
We recently reported on a Spam Act warning given by ACMA to SMS marketer Hyarchis.
Hyarchis’ Australian representative Peter Pichler is reported as rejecting the warning, arguing that it arose out of an incident where a mischievous third party entered a bogus phone number on a Hyarchis social networking site.
The Hyarchis version of events
The report says it happened this way. A prankster filled in a registration form on a Hyarchis site. They used a made up mobile number like 123 123 123 (only an example) that happened to coincide with the actual number of a mobile subscriber.
The subscriber received a ‘please confirm’ message – three times, since the prankster entered it thrice – and reported the matter to ACMA which investigated and issued a warning.
According to the report, Pichler said ‘We’ve been slapped down for something really minor. When you Google our name this comes up. It’s not good. It’s an absolute over-reaction.’
CSP Central comment
ACMA’s powers under the Spam Act are pretty strong stuff, and the power to warn is a surprisingly dangerous one. There’s no real opportunity to fight it in court, and no real public record of the ‘proven facts’.
Hyarchis and Pichler have asserted circumstances that warrant a response from ACMA. Confidence in the process would be assisted by clarification from the Authority. And, assuming there’s a powerful answer to Pichler’s complaints, he’s asked for it.
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