Spam and telemarketing

73.152 ‘Spam’ refers to the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited commercial messages. While the most widely recognised form of spam is email spam, the term also is applied to similar activities in other electronic media, including instant messaging, mobile phone messaging and short message service (SMS) messaging.

73.153 Spam has the potential to threaten the viability and efficiency of electronic messaging by damaging consumer confidence, obstructing legitimate business activity and imposing costs on users.^[180] It was recently noted that:

Spam’s growth has been metastatic, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of all mail. In 2001, spam accounted for about five per cent of the traffic on the Internet; by 2004, that figure had risen to more than seventy per cent. This year [2007], in some regions, it has edged above ninety per cent—more than a hundred billion unsolicited messages clogging the arterial passages of the world’s computer networks every day.^[181]

73.154 ‘Telemarketing’ is the marketing of goods and services to the consumer by telephone. Many Australians consider spam and telemarketing to be an invasion of their privacy. In 2006–07, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) reported that it had received 680 complaints about telemarketing.^[182] In that same year, ACMA received 1,831 written complaints related to spam.^[183]

73.155 A large number of submissions to the current Inquiry raised concerns about spam and telemarketing.^[184] On 1–2 June 2006, the ALRC invited members of the public to contact the ALRC to provide their views and experiences of privacy protection in Australia. This initiative—the National Privacy Phone-In—attracted widespread media coverage, which prompted a large community response. In total, the ALRC received 1,343 responses. The great majority of respondents (73%) nominated telemarketing as their main concern.^[185]A large number of respondents to the National Privacy Phone-In also considered spam to be an interference with their privacy.^[186]