A self-confessed spam king who faces the first court action taken under the Spam Act has said it is "staggering" how many people respond to junk email.
Wayne Mansfield of Perth said spammers remained in business only because it was profitable. He said he would defend what he believed was his right to use the email addresses culled from Australian websites using automated software.
"Every day, people buy from that list," Mr Mansfield said, referring to a list the Australian Communications Authority, acting on thousands of complaints, has asked the Federal Court to shut down.
Mr Mansfield said the number of people who act on spam "is staggeringly high".
Much of his spam spruiks seminars that people must pay more than $100 to attend. "We run 40 seminars a year in each city in Australia and 20,000 people a year come," he said.
He claimed complaints, as a percentage of the 56 million spams sent out each year, were "minuscule".
