The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirmed last week, by issuing a formal warning to a spammer, that a company sending a commercial electronic message to a person whose 'friend' had given that person's email address to the company did not have the consent of the person to whom the email was sent, and was therefore sending spam in breach of the Spam Act 2003

This confirms that a company can not send emails to a person simply because that person's friends or family members have given the company that person's address. The recipient of the email always must have consented to company sending it, either expressly or by virtue of an existing business relationship

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