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Kiwi Spammer Shuts Down? Updated 18 August 2003   Christchurch man Shane Atkinson may have had a change of heart about his spamming activities. In a usenet posting, Shane, or someone purporting to be him, expressed remorse and claimed that the spamming operation had been closed down. Previous Report (15 August In a statement published Friday, InternetNZ has made it clear that it intends to get serious about the problem of spam and spammers. The group is lodging complaints with three different regulatory bodies against an unrepentant Christchurch spammer, Shane Atkinson, whose story featured in today's NZ Herald. InternetNZ Vice-President, David Farrar, said that complaints are being lodged with: The Commerce Commission for breach of Section 10 of the Fair Trading Act 1986, relating to misleading conduct in relation to goods. The Ministry of Health for breach of the Medicines Act 1981 The Privacy Commissioner for breach of the Privacy Act 1993 "Mr Atkinson is an unrepentant spammer who believes that those who don't want to receive spam should not connect to the Internet. InternetNZ disagrees that connecting to the Internet is a license for Mr Atkinson to promote his penis enlargement pills to every man, woman and child's e-mail address he can find" said Mr Farrar. "InternetNZ urges the appropriate regulatory authorities to prosecute Mr Atkinson to the maximum extent permissible under current laws." This bold move on the part of InternetNZ may well signal that the organisation is about to take a far more proactive stance in respect to issues that affect local Internet users.

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