With the amount of SMS that we all receive indicating that "you’ve won a brand new car," each of us could own a dealership. Users are tired and the National Directorate of Personal Data Protection created earlier this year, the National Do Not Call Registry, a platform where citizens can record their phone number to avoid being contacted by companies that advertise, to bid, sell products through telephone services.

In Australia, this service has been working for nine years through the DNCR 2006 Act and the Spam Act 2003, designed by the government to "minimize the impact of unsolicited communications" and was the focus of the Australian Audit assessment.

When we speak of "unsolicited communications" we refer to those messages that we receive by fax, email, SMS or multimedia messages that are intended to offer, sell or try to arouse interest in a product or service from a company.

Just as the Argentines, Australians can "make a complaint" with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) on "possible violations" of the aforementioned laws.

Between 2013 and 2014, the ACMA received "more than 22,000 complaints regarding breach" of the DNCR Act. Faced with these complaints, the body responds in two ways: encouraging "voluntary compliance" to the offending company or by a "civil action".

For example, the Australian Communications and Media Authority "issued a notice of violation of $ 20,400 to a company that made telephone calls to numbers that were registered " on the Do Not Call Registry.

Note that the record already has the "phone numbers of 10 million" users. Given that about 23 million people live in Australia, according to World Bank sources, the registered account for 43% of the population. In our country, 360,000 users are recorded on the basis of not call since the service, since earlier this year when it was put into operation.

Another company was fined "$ 15,500 for submitting spam emails that did not include the appropriate contact information" and "did not have the option to unsubscribe from the e-mails."

However, according to the rules, "charities, government agencies and parliamentarians, political parties and educational institutions" are still entitled to send "calls and messages for research" even though some users are registered on the Do Not Call Registry.

Audit’s Recommendations

The controlling body of Australia considered necessary on the one hand, the ACMA "prepare a written research plan that includes a risk assessment before the start of each investigation". And secondly, "to notify the complainants after each case."

These tips were accepted by the entity that receives complaints on unsolicited communications.