Spammers face music in Argentina

The plaintiffs, Argentine lawyers Gustavo Tanus and Pablo Palazzi, sued marketing company PubliCC Soluciones. They argued that the new law gives them the right to opt out, which the spammer did not comply with when they asked to be removed from the database.

"We started the case because people send emails and spam messages every day without doing anything, and usually spammers do not honour the opt out request," says Pablo Palazzi, of counsel at Cabanellas, Etchebarne, Kelly & Dell'Oro Maini Abogados. "We wanted to make people realise that this is illegal under Argentina's 2000 personal data protection act."

The judge issued an injunction in November 2003, barring the defendant from sending emails to the plaintiffs during the case. The injunction also forbade the transfer of the plaintiffs' emails to third parties.

On 7 April the judge issued the final decision, ordering the defendants to stop dealing with the personal data of the plaintiffs and delete their information. The decision confirmed that the sending of spam infringed the plaintiffs' privacy and data protection rights.

"Even though the 2000 Act is not specifically designed for fighting spam it can be used against spammers, which is very interesting because the law allows fines of up to AR$100,000 (US$34,500) for this kind of offence," adds Gustavo Tanus, partner of Tanus Law Office. "This is a very important first step against spam in Argentina and we hope this will help generate awareness about the problem."

Spam is starting to be regulated throughout Latin America. Recently, bills were introduced in Congress in Brazil, Argentina and Chile, and there is already a special law in Peru.

Plaintiffs

• Cabanellas, Etchebarne, Kelly & Dell’Oro Maini Abogados

Of counsel Pablo Palazzi

• Tanus Law Office

Partner Gustavo Tanus

Counsel to PubliCC Soluciones

• Poplavsky & Asociados - Estudio Jurídico

Partners Patricio Poplavsky and Vanina Molina