Wayne Mansfield
Encyclopedia
Wayne Mansfield, of Perth, Australia
, was the head of direct marketing
business T3 Direct Marketing, operating under a series of two-dollar companies, and in 2005 became the first Australian to be prosecuted for email spamming.
Mansfield was a junk fax
er in the mid-1990s before turning to spamming, in which he promoted seminar-hosting companies he ran, including The Maverick Partnership and Business Seminars Australia. These messages admitted he had harvested emails from "various publicly available sources and other marketing promotions", but included instructions for recipients to unsubscribe from the list.
Many see Mansfield as a pioneer of internet marketing and he is now well regarded as a leading exponent of Social Media Marketing. Contrary to popular belief, he has many Government and corporate clients who, due to his acknowledged "cutting edge" techniques, attend the business education seminars he gives in Australia, New Zaaland and the Middle East.
T3 Direct was blacklist
ed along with the company in June 2002 by the Spam Prevention Early Warning System
(SPEWS), along with its ISP, Swiftel (now People Telecom
). Swiftel suspended T3 Direct's online access for this, and also violation of its terms of service. T3 Direct was left with A$
4,578 in charges outstanding to Swiftel. However, Mansfield insisted that it was the other arm of his business, concerned with web design
and the management of opt-in databases, which suffered as a result.
In July
of the same year, Mansfield began legal action against Perth
technician and anti-spam campaigner Joey McNicol
. After receiving spam from Mansfield and discovering that the unsubscribe option did not work, and that contact details in the messages were fake, McNicol had set up a website publishing the details of T3 Direct and other Mansfield companies, as well as publishing these details in newsgroups. Mansfield accused McNicol of sending his company's IP address to SPEWS, prompting the blacklisting, but lost the case as he was unable to prove McNicol had actually contacted SPEWS, and in any case the action was not ruled to be illegal. Although Mansfield's company was ordered to pay McNicol's costs in the action, Mansfield shut down that company without paying those costs and continued business using a new company. McNicol's legal fees were in part paid by donations.
where ACMA alleged that they were involved in the sending of 56 million spam emails during 2004. He however insisted that sending commercial emails was his "right", but claimed he had not harvested any new email addresses since the Spam Act came into force, arguing that because he had started spamming the recipients before the Spam Act and the recipients had not unsubscribed, he could infer consent (an argument that did not find favour with the Court). He also stated that telephone operators at his company had been subjected to abuse by irate callers, but promised that unsubscribe requests were handled "within minutes". He defended his campaign, citing 20,000 attendees at his business seminars.
ACMA's complaint in this matter was upheld in the Australia Federal Court on 13 April 2006. The Court imposed a penalty of A$
4.5 million on Clarity1, and A$
1 million on Wayne Mansfield, on 27 October 2006.
In April 2009, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) disqualified Mr Mansfield from managing corporations for four years following their investigation into his role in two failed companies. These companies were Clarity1 Pty Ltd, which was at the centre of the spam case, and The Which Company Pty Ltd. "ASIC found that the companies had failed with substantial statutory debts accrued over a substantial period and that Mr Mansfield’s management and involvement in the affairs of Clarity1 Pty Ltd and Which Co Pty Ltd did not meet the standards required of a person in his position."
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, was the head of direct marketing
Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional...
business T3 Direct Marketing, operating under a series of two-dollar companies, and in 2005 became the first Australian to be prosecuted for email spamming.
Mansfield was a junk fax
Junk fax
Junk faxes are a form of telemarketing where unsolicited advertisements are sent via fax transmission. Junk faxes are the faxed equivalent of spam or junk mail...
er in the mid-1990s before turning to spamming, in which he promoted seminar-hosting companies he ran, including The Maverick Partnership and Business Seminars Australia. These messages admitted he had harvested emails from "various publicly available sources and other marketing promotions", but included instructions for recipients to unsubscribe from the list.
Many see Mansfield as a pioneer of internet marketing and he is now well regarded as a leading exponent of Social Media Marketing. Contrary to popular belief, he has many Government and corporate clients who, due to his acknowledged "cutting edge" techniques, attend the business education seminars he gives in Australia, New Zaaland and the Middle East.
T3 Direct was blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed along with the company in June 2002 by the Spam Prevention Early Warning System
Spam Prevention Early Warning System
The Spam Prevention Early Warning System was an anonymous service which maintained a list of IP address ranges belonging to Internet service providers which host spammers and show little action to prevent their abuse of other networks' resources...
(SPEWS), along with its ISP, Swiftel (now People Telecom
People Telecom
People Telecom is an Australian telecommunications company and subsidiary of M2 Telecommunications Group.People Telecom was founded in 2000 as Swiftel Communications by Ryan O'Hare and Colin Marland. It resells internet access and telephony services. People Telecom was listed in the 2005...
). Swiftel suspended T3 Direct's online access for this, and also violation of its terms of service. T3 Direct was left with A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
4,578 in charges outstanding to Swiftel. However, Mansfield insisted that it was the other arm of his business, concerned with web design
Web design
Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...
and the management of opt-in databases, which suffered as a result.
In July
July 2002
July 2002: January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December-July 1, 2002:* A Russian Tupolev Tu-154 airliner and a Boeing 757 operated by DHL collide at 35,000 ft over Uberlingen, due to failure of correct communication from...
of the same year, Mansfield began legal action against Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
technician and anti-spam campaigner Joey McNicol
Joey McNicol
Joey McNicol is an activist against E-mail spam. He became notable after a high profile court case in which he was the defendant. The case alleged that he had caused IP addresses of companies controlled by Wayne Mansfield to be blacklisted. The case against him was dismissed in October...
. After receiving spam from Mansfield and discovering that the unsubscribe option did not work, and that contact details in the messages were fake, McNicol had set up a website publishing the details of T3 Direct and other Mansfield companies, as well as publishing these details in newsgroups. Mansfield accused McNicol of sending his company's IP address to SPEWS, prompting the blacklisting, but lost the case as he was unable to prove McNicol had actually contacted SPEWS, and in any case the action was not ruled to be illegal. Although Mansfield's company was ordered to pay McNicol's costs in the action, Mansfield shut down that company without paying those costs and continued business using a new company. McNicol's legal fees were in part paid by donations.
Proceedings under the Spam Act of 2003
In June 2005 the then Australian Communications Authority (ACA) (Now known as the Australian Communications & Media Authority - ACMA) brought proceedings against Mansfield and his new company, Clarity1, under the recently-passed Spam Act 2003Spam Act 2003
The Spam Act 2003 was passed in 2003 as federal legislation by the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. The first portions of the act came into effect on 12 December 2003, the day the act received Royal Assent, with all remaining sections of the act coming into force on 10 April 2004.Its...
where ACMA alleged that they were involved in the sending of 56 million spam emails during 2004. He however insisted that sending commercial emails was his "right", but claimed he had not harvested any new email addresses since the Spam Act came into force, arguing that because he had started spamming the recipients before the Spam Act and the recipients had not unsubscribed, he could infer consent (an argument that did not find favour with the Court). He also stated that telephone operators at his company had been subjected to abuse by irate callers, but promised that unsubscribe requests were handled "within minutes". He defended his campaign, citing 20,000 attendees at his business seminars.
ACMA's complaint in this matter was upheld in the Australia Federal Court on 13 April 2006. The Court imposed a penalty of A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
4.5 million on Clarity1, and A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
1 million on Wayne Mansfield, on 27 October 2006.
In April 2009, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) disqualified Mr Mansfield from managing corporations for four years following their investigation into his role in two failed companies. These companies were Clarity1 Pty Ltd, which was at the centre of the spam case, and The Which Company Pty Ltd. "ASIC found that the companies had failed with substantial statutory debts accrued over a substantial period and that Mr Mansfield’s management and involvement in the affairs of Clarity1 Pty Ltd and Which Co Pty Ltd did not meet the standards required of a person in his position."