Consumer office wages war on spam

THE Balearic government's Consumer department yesterday urged the public to fight back against unwanted publicity received as “spam” either on mobile telephones or e-mail.

In a statement issued yesterday, the department said that thanks to a law passed last year putting restrictions on advertising practices, consumers are legally entitled to denounce what may be an aggressive bombardment of publicity onto private mobiles and computers.

The department added that it had registered a recent increase in the Balearic Islands of telephonic “spam” which because of repetition, has reached abusive levels.

The new law, explained the Consumer department, says that when a person does not want to be in receipt of repeated publicity, the company responsible can be contacted by telephone, fax or email. The company is then obliged to register the fact that a member of the public has made clear that he or she wants the communication to stop. If the company continues its tirade, then it can be subject to fines.

The law also makes it clear that companies cannot make publicity calls to private telephones through a “hidden number” system. Thus when an advertising call is made to a member of the public, it must show the number from which it is being dialled, enabling the plaintiff to log the number of nuisance calls.