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Results and Statistics

The Anti-Spam Compliance Unit was established in September 2007 and consists of a manager, an investigator, an IT technician and an information analyst / administrator.

Our primary focus following the introduction of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 is on education. If a breach of the Act is alleged our priority is to educate the company concerned on the importance of complying with the Act. Should future breaches occur we will then look at imposing suitable penalties.

Follow the links below to find out more about the complaints we have investigated.

Results
Statistics

Results

Below are some examples of the complaints we have received and the results of our investigations. Because we are concentrating on educating businesses at this stage the companies involved have not been identified.

Historic promotion (November)

We received a complaint relating to a jewellery company who had recently sent out a promotional email to various people listed on their database. We visited the companies head office, offsite administration office, company who does their marketing and bulk email provider to investigate further.

We discovered that the company ran a specific web based promotion in 2002 where entrants had an opportunity to win a pair of earrings. The conditions of entry of the competition included a clause stating that 'all entries will be added to a database and may receive promotional offers from other businesses in the future'. It also gave a contact email address should entrants want to be removed from the database.

Our investigation concluded that the jewellery company had complied with the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007. However, we did recommend that if this company were to run a similar email promotion in the future they should include a reference to where they obtained the recipients email address, as most people would not remember entering a competition in 2002.

Deemed consent (December)

We received a number of complaints from schools who had been sent emails from businesses offering to sell them goods related to education. Further investigation revealed that the Ministry of Education had a list of all the schools in New Zealand published on their website. This meant the businesses had consent to send the emails because they were conspicuously published, work-related electronic addresses.

We advised the Ministry to add a note to the webpage stating that the addresses could not be used to send commercial electronic messages. This would mean deemed consent no longer applied. The Ministry chose to take the list off the website.

Christchurch spamming investigation

On 17 December 2007 the Anti-Spam Compliance Unit seized 32 computer systems and a substantial amount of paper documentation from four Christchurch addresses. We also interviewed two Christchurch businessmen believed to be connected with the spamming operation responsible for sending spam world wide offering pharmaceutical products and watches. View our press release (19/12/07) for more information.

On 14 October 2008 the Department announced that it has asked the High Court to impose financial penalties of $200,000 on each of three New Zealanders involved in a major international spamming operation. This is the first court action since the introduction of the anti-spam law, the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act on 5 September 2007 and follows a raid on four Christchurch addresses last December. View our press release (14/10/08) for more information.

On 22 December 2008 the Department announced that one of three New Zealand citizens has admitted his part in a major international spamming operation and will pay a financial penalty of $100,000 plus costs of $7666. View our press release (22/12/08) for more information.

On 2 November 2009 the Department announced that the two other people involved in this spamming operation had admitted their role and will pay financial penalties of $100,000 and $50,000. View our press release (02/11/09) for more information.

Statistics

Below are statistics on the number of complaints we have received each month.

Latest spam complaints: October 2009

During the month of October 113 spam complaints were received in total. The following tables are a breakdown of the type of spam, its origin and the reason for the complaint.

Type of spam	Number received
Email	108
SMS (i.e. text message)	5

Origin of spam	Number received
New Zealand	42
Overseas	66

NOTE: These figures will not match the total number of complaints made during the month because they relate only to complaints made using our online complaint form.

Complaint reason	Number received
I did not subscribe to this	28
The message did not contain an unsubscribe facility	12
Contains sexual content	1
I have previously unsubscribed and message continues to be sent	18
Other reasons	71

NOTE: Complainants are able to tick more than one reason for their complaint.

Archive of spam complaints

2009	2008	2007
October .pdf (9k)* September .pdf (9k)* August .pdf (9k)* July .pdf (16k)* June .pdf (9k)* May .pdf (9k)* April .pdf (8k)* March .pdf (9k)* February .pdf (9k)* January .pdf (9k)*	December .pdf (9k)* November .pdf (9k)* October .pdf (9k)* September .pdf (9k)* August .pdf (9k)* July .pdf (15k)* June .pdf (9k)* May .pdf (9k)* April .pdf (9k)* March .pdf (12k)* February .pdf (12k)* January .pdf (12k)*	December .pdf (12k)* November .pdf (12k)* October .pdf (12k)* September .pdf (12k)*

NOTE: The number of spam complaints for New Zealand and overseas may be higher than the total number of recorded (archived) spam complaints. This is because each spam complaint is allocated a Complaint Reference Number to help the Department with processing. Sometimes complainants will re-use a Complaint Reference Number when they register further complaints and the system does not recognise this as a new complaint. Also complainants may include two or more spam complaints in the one submission.

*This document is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. You need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.


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Last updated: 02/11/2009