South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) has accepted a ZAR65,000 (US$6,100) settlement from Ketler Investments after the company took the industry body to court last year following its spam Hall of Shame campaign.
Last year the South Gauteng High Court dismissed a complaint by Ketler Investments, which was looking to have its name removed from the ISPA’s spam reporting page.
ISPA’s Hall of Shame lists South African countries that send out spam in an attempt to cast light on the companies that are engaging in spamming.
“The court agreed with ISPA that Ketler Presentations had contravened section 45 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act of 2002 through the sending of unsolicited commercial communications, even after undertaking to ISPA that it would not do so after originally being listed in the ISPA Hall of Shame in 2009 as a repeat offender,” ISPA said.
ISPA said it has received a letter from Ketler Investments pledging to cease spamming, saying it would properly obtain the consent of the any consumer to which it sends commercial email.
“As Ketler Presentations and others have found to their cost, ISPA will defend its rights to take action against spammers in South Africa and, if necessary, pursue litigation aimed at protecting the rights of South African Internet consumers and ensuring a safe, accessible and equitable local web,” said Dominic Cull, ISPA regulatory advisor.
Ketler said all purchased emails it had used for correspondence had been deleted from its system.
“This is probably the first substantial penalty paid by a local sender of unsolicited commercial email communications, even if it is indirectly. There is at least one less unwanted inbox intruder for a lot of South African Internet users after the conclusion of this matter, and the implementation of the Protection of Personal Information over the next few years could well tip the scales if people exercise the rights it gives them,” said Cull.
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