19 Feb 2011

Alleged spammer faces court action

6:45 am on 19 February 2011

The Department of Internal Affairs is taking High Court action against an alleged internet spammer.

Internal Affairs has lodged two statements claiming breaches under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 by Brendan Paul Battles and Image Marketing Group Ltd.

The department is seeking financial penalties of $200,000 against the company principal and $500,000 against the company.

It alleges that in February and March 2009 nearly 45,000 text messages were sent to phones in New Zealand promoting an aerial said to boost mobile reception.

A second claim relates to what the department says was the sending of 500,000 emails in December of that year advertising marketing data.