Legal Training faces Data Protection penalty for sending ‘spam’ from a Law conference

Spain’s Data Protection Authority (AEPD) fined 1,000 euros for admitting facts and voluntarily paying – reduced to 600 euros – Legal Education Group to spam a person requesting the deletion of their data from a legal conference. He has committed a minor violation specified in Art. Information Society Services Law Article 21.1.

In April 2022, a user filed a claim with AEPD against Legal Training Group because, according to the affected party, they were sent as c.Non-consensual commercial communication Although the rights to delete data were granted months ago.

As evidence, he submitted a copy of the deletion request along with the allegation and Legal Training’s response announcing that he had already been discharged. On the other hand, he delivered a copy of an e-mail on the subject of “The City of Marbella II Bankruptcy Law Congress”.

Faced with this situation, AEPD informed Legal Training within a month so that it could describe its version of the facts and the actions taken to comply with the requirements set in data protection regulations. But no answer came.

AEPD analyzes the concept of “spam”

The AEPD analyzed the concept of “spam” throughout the claim. You have concluded that “spam” is any unsolicited communication conducted electronically.

In this way, it is understood that it is “spam”. spam messages and normally for the purpose of bidding, marketing or trying to arouse interest about a product, service or company, It is the most used e-mail although it can be done in different ways.

According to the decision this behavior “especially serious” when done in bulk. Sending commercial messages without prior permission is prohibited under Spanish law.

Well, the possibilities offered by sending e-mails via the Internet or mobile phone (SMS and MMS) in terms of low cost, possible anonymity, speed of reaching recipients and transmission volume, allowed this practice to be made maliciously and indiscriminately.

prohibited by law

this Information Society Services Law (LSSI), 21.1. expressly prohibits the “sending of advertising or promotional communications by e-mail or other equivalent electronic means of communication not previously requested or expressly authorized by the recipients”.

In other words, commercial communications aiming at the direct or indirect promotion of the goods or services of a company, organization or person engaged in commercial, industrial, craft or professional activities without the express consent of the buyer are prohibited.

This is a forbidden the exception in part 2 of the aforementioned article 21 allowing the sending of commercial communications. forks when there is a pre-contractual relationshipProvided that the provider has lawfully obtained the recipient’s contact information and uses them to send commercial communications about products or services similar to those that their companies have originally contracted with the customer.

As such, sending unsolicited commercial communications, with the exception of clause 21.2 of the LSSI, may constitute a minor or serious violation of the LSSI.

In this case, taking into account the foregoing and the claimant’s declaration that the requested party has exercised its right to delete the processed data in accordance with the information provided by the data protection officer, it is clear that: there is a violation of the quoted article as the alleged party proceeds again to send commercial communications.