Press release: Ketler Application Dismissed with Costs

Published on: 2013-06-07

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Yesterday morning (6 June 2013) the South Gauteng High Court dismissed, with costs, an application by Ketler Investments to censor ISPA’s spam “Hall of Shame”.

Ketler applied to the High Court in 2012 to try to force ISPA to remove it from a web page – the Hall of Shame – listing South African companies who send out spam.

ISPA is gratified with with the dismissal of the application. This vindicates ISPA’s efforts to combat spam originating in South Africa as well as being a victory for freedom of speech. ISPA will issue more detailed comments on the case once the judge releases his reasons for the dismissal next week.

This legal victory comes on ISPA’s 17th birthday. When the Association was founded in 1996, it had just nine member organisations. It now represents 164 Internet organizations and undertakes a variety of industry projects including running three Internet exchanges, providing IT training for teachers and combating spam in South Africa.

Further Information

For further information, please contact the ISPA secretariat on the Contact ISPA page.