Opera
Telecom has been fined by ICSTIS, though it was only the service
provider which administered the sending of the messages and not the
company with which they originated. Only service providers, and not
content providers, are liable for ICSTIS fines.
Over 60,000 messages were sent, each costing the recipient 50p.
The messages read: 'Update: Your services have been modified.
Please turn the handset off, then back on, for any changes to take
effect’. There was no system update and the message had not come,
as it appeared to have, from the customer's network operator. The
message was only sent to customers on the Orange network.
The message broke the law and the ICSTIS rules, the body ruled.
That the message was an offence under the Privacy and Electronic
Communications Regulations was not disputed by Opera.
"Opera Telecom were fined £30,000 and issued with a formal
reprimand," said the ICSTIS ruling. "In addition, access to the
service was barred indefinitely as it could never be seen to be
compliant."
In its responses, Opera said that the company which created the
message was responsible for breaking the rules. The company said
that it had requested of its client that it pre-warn Opera of any
promotional campaign, and that this had not been done.
ICSTIS said that Opera did not disclose to it the identity of
the creator of the campaign. "We only name the information provider
if we are told it by the service provider," said the spokesman. "We
have to give them a chance to accept responsibility or defend
themselves, in the interests of natural justice."
"In this case Opera has simply said that the information
provider created the message but has not actually named the
information provider," said the ICSTIS spokesman.
The spokesman said that ICSTIS would be introducing a new code
of practice this year which would allow it to fine information
providers directly, provided they accept responsibility for
breaches.
Opera did not respond to a request for comment before
publication.
