MYOB slammed for spam violation

Accounting software company MYOB has been slammed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for sending spam to computer users without their consent.

ACMA found that MYOB’s data hosting and domain name registry company SmartyHost continued to spam people with messages, even after the company had received requests from users to be removed from the company’s mailing list – a direct violation of the 2003 Spam Act.

According to a statement from ACMA director Chris Chapman, the Spam Act specifies that any consent to receive commercial electronic mail is automatically withdrawn five business days after an unsubscribe request has been sent.

“The Spam Act makes it clear that commercial electronic messages cannot be sent without the consent of the recipient… As such it is central to the working of the scheme that recipients of such messages have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.”

MYOB has accepted an enforceable undertaking to develop training programs, quality assurance processes and a complaint-handling policy that will be authorised and monitored by ACMA.

The company said in a statement the problem was due to a “small technical issue” that caused SmartyHost.com.au to cease working correctly.

“The issue has been corrected and we worked with ACMA to ensure all concerns were addressed. We regret that this occurred. It was not our intention to spam customers of SmartyHost.com.au, as we always seek to communicate to customers in accordance with their wishes,” a spokesperson says.

ACMA director Chris Chapman said in a statement the company has been working closely with the Government authority, and that it is “impressed by the commitment of MYOB… to the process of achieving compliance”.

“This undertaking shows MYOB’s willingness to establish and maintain an appropriate standard of communication with its customers and sends yet another strong signal to businesses about their legal obligations when sending out commercial electronic messages.”