SMS SPAM to be Banned Down Under?

mickers writes "news.com.au reports that in Australia, phone companies which allow SMS spam to be sent across their networks face fines of up to A$10 million under a new industry code.." Are people having a huge problem with SMS spam yet, or is this sort of action more pre-emptive?

Comments

This is nice and all...

[Anonymous Coward]

...but why not instead take the action of banning the spammers and punishing them as well? Basically, put it in the contract when you let someone use your network that if they send spam, they'll face nasty fines and be subject to litigation?

Re:This is nice and all...

[dhuv]

Most of the spam comes from countries where that law cannot/wouldnot reach.

Re:This is nice and all...

[rkz]

Actually Australia has a few more spam laws, one of which is that (Email) spammers' ISPs face a fine if they do not take reasonable actions to prevent spamming. I think they will expand that to telephone operators too. I know this because we contracted for one Aus ISP migrating to Windows 2000 from NT and we were explicitly told me put stupid messages in SMTP welcome messages to the effect of, "You are forbidden by law to send unsolicited messages".
Quite useless really.

Re:This is nice and all...

[xYoni69x]

Most of the spam comes from countries where that law cannot/wouldnot reach.

Mmm... Didn't the United States sue Sherman Networks, the company that made Kazaa, which is based in Australia?
In my opinion, stopping spam should be much higher priority than stopping illegal file sharing. (Not just because I benefit from the latter...)

Re:This is nice and all...

[rkz]

No because i can still go to downloads.com and get kazaa....

Sharman Networks has an office in Estonia where the guy who designed the encryption inside the kazaa protocal and two other programmers live.

This office is not actually a part of Sharman Networks but a contractor for a company in the Netherlands, this company sold the Kazaa software to, Sharman Networks who are based in a south pacific island called Vanatu

Vanatu famous for being an offshore tax, sex slave trade and gambling haven. The Exectutives of Sharman Networks only work in Australia.

Re:This is nice and all...

[shaitand]

Because this is what we do with regular spam *checks his mail* I have another 95 spam this morning that say it doesn't work.

Re:This is nice and all...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mmm... Didn't the United States sue Sherman Networks, the company that made Kazaa, which is based in Australia?

Yeah, that certainly went very well...

Re:This is nice and all...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hello? McFly? This is SMS spam, the carrier has complete control of what sms are sent to whom and from where they come. Unlike the internet email which has no common carrier as such.

Re:This is nice and all...

[Anonymous Coward]

rkz wrote: "Vanatu famous for being an offshore tax, sex slave trade and gambling haven"

Obviously Never Been there huh?????

Tax Haven, Yes...Gambling Haven......Ummm..well one Casino and few SP Bookies, Kinda.....Sex Slaves.....I don't think so....

Re:This is nice and all...

[rkz]

ref

ITS ABOUT TIME

[ReLik]

This will force companies to stop this, it's about time someone tackled this problem.

Re:ITS ABOUT TIME

[Anonymous Coward]

agreed, this should make companies far more aware of the problem, and as long as the fines are big enough it could certainly stop alot of it

SMS Spam from my provider

[Anonymous Coward]

The worst SMS spam that I get is actually from my telephone (wireless) provider.

Every so often, they send me a message telling me about their cheap rates and how I could be working more efficiently by using SMS :)

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[BrokenHalo]

So far, SMS spamming doesn't seem to have really taken hold here in Perth. So far, the only SMS spam I've had has been from my provider.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[KDan]

The worst in europe is the way some networks message you to let you know that you're going through one network or another (as they all interoperate). So you're driving on the highway at 120+km/h, and you suddenly get your phone beeping to let you know... that you're welcome to SFR/Orange/Vodafone/etc. They should be sued because that is probably a cause for accidents.

Daniel

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[2sleep2type]

I would strongly agree with this. My provider was the worst offender. I say was as I got so annoyed by this and other customer service issues I moved provider. As other posters have commented there is a cost to send SMS which of course is near nill for providers and thatâ(TM)s why they are the most prolific.

I've noticed that there are a lot of competitions that are enter by SMS. I presume that this is harvesting of numbers for future campaigns. As people have entered the competion they are interested in your product and a âwarm leadâ(TM) worth the cost of SMSing. Iâ(TM)ve never entered any of these as I suspect that spam would follow.

Is there a market in lists of SMS numbers yet? That will be an indicator that this has taken off.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[Anonymous Coward]

I''m in country QLD, and it's horrific. I changed number due to the constant SMSs coming through that were purely commercial.

I can handle email spam, I get to check it all at once, but when my phone is going off up to 20 times a day with unwanted SMS's, I tend to ignore it and miss the real ones. A phone is a realtime thing, and the genuine calls are useful because of that time dependency.

Emails I can check and hit delete just a couple of times a day if I really need. On my phone, it's far more inconvenient

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[Stuart Gibson]

If your phone beeping is a probable cause for an accident you either shouldn't be driving or shouldn't have a phone, maybe even both.

What's the next plan - suing ice cream vans, or fire services because of the distracting noise?

Goblin

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[plover]

So far, my provider, ATT Wireless, has been the ONLY source of SMS spam. The worst part was that I called immediately after the first one and demanded they NEVER send me any again. A month later, I was startled high up on a ladder (my SMS ring was quite piercing) which really got my goat. I called and yelled at the customer service drone. I haven't gotten any since, but I have a nagging feeling that they might send another.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[waferbaby]

ditto for me here in sydney; nothing but 'spam' from my provider (either a warning to let me know i'll need to pay my bill soon, or an alert to say i should have paid my bill when it was due :p).

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[dago]

Apart that all (at least I suppose) european traffic laws requires that you must be able to control your vehicle at all time. And, if you're not able to do so while messaging, then choose.

Anyway, this kind of beeping welcome message is usually encountered near borders where, in most case, there's some kind of speed limit at 10-30 km/h to cross the old custom post (at least for the 10-20 that I know)

Seems that before sueing someone else, you may eventually try to respect the actual traffic laws.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[ajs318]

Bill due?

In this country, you pay for your telephone service before you make the calls. This used to be done by means of scratchcards with a unique number; nowadays you can do it from a bank account.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[JackJudge]

Under EU law you're not allowed to use your handset while driving anyway, so follow the law and switch it off and you'll find your problems, this one at least, have magically gone away.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[faaaz]

I hear ya, and what's with that pinging sound when an elevator arrives?? I think I've knocked about ten people over reaching for my phone, thinking it was an SMS.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[Anonymous Coward]

Under EU law you're not allowed to use your handset while driving anyway, so follow the law and switch it off and you'll find your problems, this one at least, have magically gone away.

I've never heard of that law. I see thousands of drivers using phones while driving.

If you're not wrong, the police are passing up a large revenue source by not ticketing all these people.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[Doppler00]

I still get those from my cell provider, usually about every 6 months or so. It's usually some dumb service that costs an extra $15/month that would be completely useless to me.

"Now you can order pancakes directly from your phone! Only $15 more per month!!!"

well... maybe it's not that bad.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[KDan]

All it is is an additional (and completely useless) distraction when you don't need to have additional distractions. No matter how good a driver you reckon you are, distractions will have some effect on you. It may only be a small increase of the probability of having an accident, but it is an increase nevertheless, and with no good excuse for it.

Daniel

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[dubl-u]

Yes! And let me name names here: Cingular was the one spamming me. When I called them up, they offered to stop sending them to me, but said that they were determined to keep sending spam to everybody who didn't complain. I now use Sprint, who haven't spammed in the six months I've been using them.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[isorox]

Then turn your phone off you idiot. And the radio, and the kids fighitng in the back.

Re:SMS Spam from my provider

[Anonymous Coward]

You can just turn off that kind of message. Don't blame the excelent europeaan GSM service.... If you are an owner of a mobile phone, try to go to outside US to see how perfect is your system. Europe is 2 or 3 years in advance to US mobile industry. In my country for example (portugal), 70% of population have mobile phones. How about US ?

PS: Sorrey for my poor english.

Its a terrible problem

[Vampyl]

For some reason there is a terrible problem with on my cable modem. Of course i disable it but the minute after i wiped and reloaded my computer i had no less than 10 of them pop up beofre i could turn the service off. The funny part is 5 of them were trying to sell me a way to turn it off.

Re:Its a terrible problem

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't get SMS's on your computer. It's a cell phone thing.

And I know in the US, I get a shitload of spam from AT&T Wireless/American Idol on my phone. Wish the US had something like this.

Right on...

[jdreed1024]

Are people having a huge problem with SMS spam yet, or is this sort of action more pre-emptive?

Who cares? It's still a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, it seems that in today's society we often have to wait until something is already a serious problem before doing anything about it. Yay Australia for taking this step.

Re:Right on...

[sirdude]

Maybe it's because politicians are more likely to use mobile phones rather than email... hence consider it a serious problem ;P Pre-emptive due to shameless self-interest?
heh

This only applies to telco tho.

[Soahc]

If i read it correctly. This only applies to the telco's who take a list and do mass dump of sms's onto the network. Pople like blueskyfrog who spam anyone with a phone won't be hit by this because they do their own sms, and arn't a telco.

Not too bad... Yet

[xYoni69x]

Here in Israel, I get SMS spam at a rate of about 1-2 messages per week.
I don't know how it is in Australia, but at least here it isn't terribly annoying (yet).

However, I noted that I couldn't find any way to "opt out", which probably makes it illegal.
But since I'm not bothered too much by it, I probably didn't search hard enough.

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[Realistic_Dragon]

The spam messages in the UK usually give an opt out number, it just happens to be the same 09xx premuim rate (£1/$1.60 min) number as the sales line...

No one ever accused spammers of being ethical. It's possible that we may have found the only life form lower on the evolutionary scale than political lobyists.

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[rkz]

Don't you mean when we 'Liberate' Israel?

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[rkz]

Maybe we should send all those useless European immagrants in America back to where they came from?

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[Alan Partridge]

it's spelled immigrants

and that might not be a bad idea, especially as we're probably talking about less than a hundred thousand people.

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[brain159]

The biggest offender of that one was MobyMonkey, and ICSTIS have shat on them from a very great height.

Useful info from that guardian link: "Complaints about unsolicited text messages which encourage you to call an premium rate line, should be made to Ictsis on 0800 500 212"

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[Anonymous Coward]

your a bad man. you have gotten all of us in trouble. we need to stop supporting you peoples. grammer is gooood the other side is right

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[arikb]

Just call your cell provider's service number (*054 for Orange, *123 for Cellcomm, *166 for PelePhone) and ask to be removed from the following:

• Commercial SMS and calls from the provider
• Commercial SMS and calls from 3rd parties
• Commercial mailings by 3rd parties

I did this (I have a Cellcomm and an Orange phones), and I don't get these at all. They are required to remove you.

--Arik

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[Anonymous Coward]

More like over hundred million -unless you ment only the useless ones, instead of implying all were useless (including Lincoln, Von Braun and Einstein)-, its not like all Americans are native Amercians, or Afro/Chino/...Americans.
Anyway, even should you be able to prove Bush is no alien from Roswell, we still wont take him back.

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[Alan Partridge]

if you're suggesting that there are 100 million racially European people in the US who weren't born there then you're an idiot.

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[jhunsake]

There is no such thing as a Native American. We all migrated here at one time or another. Or do you thing the Indians just magically appeared here one day?

Re:Not too bad... Yet

[mattrad]

If you have any complaints about unsolicited SMS Spam in the UK, or about any Premium Rate Services, contact ICSTIS

SPAM filters

[skinquad]

Vodafone NL is blocking mass SMS. They only relay SMS from known companies who signed an agreement. Spamhauses are and will be blocked.

Re:SPAM filters

[The_dev0]

Ahhh, but ALL my SMS junk messages in Australia come from vodafone themselves.

Re:SPAM filters

[skinquad]

If you get spam from your provider you should send complaints to them. You are a customer, you have a vote. If you really get annoyed by it, you should consider leaving them... ?

Re:SPAM filters

[The_dev0]

Yes you are right, but the problem is (for me, anyway) that this service provides the anonymity I require and leaves no paper trail. In the same way that anybody can have a (relatively anonymous) hotmail account but has to deal with the mountains of spam there, I can't help but feel it is the pre-paid, untraceable customers who cop the most SMS spam from vodafone.

Spam in Oz

[miximata]

SMS Spam is definately already a problem. The carriers themselves have been guilty of spamming their own users with new offers they can take advantage of - for a fee, of course. I'd link the story from AustralianIT, but their article seems to have vanished except from Google cache...hrm. Its good to see a quick reaction to this, and it would be nice to think it might even have some influence on the issue of email spam as well...

This can't be a problem...

[Anonymous Coward]

Unlike e-mail, spammers have to PAY to send sms, or am I wrong? Wouldn't know, I refuse to carry a device that attacks my already limited brain capacity.

Cingular

[Bobman1235]

The only SMS spam I have gotten so far has been from my service provider, Cingular. I don't think they'd press charges against themselves, so this doesn't really help. However, it's a good step. Being charged by the message, I'd be pretty annnoyed to be spammed.

Re:Cingular

[xYoni69x]

Being charged by the message, I'd be pretty annnoyed to be spammed.

Aren't you supposed to only be charged for outgoing messages?

Re:Cingular

[Kamel Jockey]

Aren't you supposed to only be charged for outgoing messages?

If you're a Cingular subscriber (which I am) and you don't get a plan that includes a given number of text messages, then you pay 10 cents for each incoming and outgoing message, which can be sent to you via email just like any other spam, so if this started happening to me, I would have no choice but to cancel messaging on my phone.

If you cancel messaging, you will still receive messages, but you won't pay for them.

Re:Cingular

[Alan Partridge]

Jebus, American cell networks are fucked up.

Re:Cingular

[Anonymous Coward]

remote the words cell and networks from above sentance and it is still true

Re:Cingular

[Bobman1235]

Is that true? Always assumed it followed the same model as airtime, with no distinction between outgoing and incoming.

I don't use it enough to care at this point I guess.

Re:Cingular

[aaza]

Is that true? Always assumed it followed the same model as airtime, with no distinction between outgoing and incoming.

You pay for incoming calls?

And I thought the prices here weren't that good...

Re:Cingular

[oh]

Is that true? Always assumed it followed the same model as airtime, with no distinction between outgoing and incoming.

I've only heard about the airtime payment model in the US, although some one is bound to tell me that it is uesd elsewhere.
In Australia, where the article is from, the Caller (and Sender) almost always pays. I don't pay for SMSs I read, only those I send. Same for calls, I don't pay if some one calls me, they pay for that.

Re:Cingular

[Bobman1235]

You pay for incoming calls?

And I thought the prices here weren't that good...

Where exactly is "here?" In the US, yes, you pay for incoming calls. Every plan I've ever heard of, you pay for incoming calls. Airtime is airtime. So a cellular to cellular call is costing two people money.

Great deal, huh?

dont know about the states

[wisdom_brewing]

i dont know how it is in the states... i dont think texting really took off there, nearly as much as it did in the UK or around europe, from what ive heard its quite big in australia as well... i get a few spam sms messages a month and though this is nowhere near the level of email spam, it is much easier to combat, as phone use, especially with texts, can easily be traced and excessive text use will be easily seen, simple... but yeh... tsmy pointless comments

Re:dont know about the states

[Likes Microsoft]

It comes down to the pricing. In the states we typically get a lot of minutes per month of voice calling to anywhere else in the lower 48 states at least. My particular service provider, Sprint PCS, wants extra money to allow me text messaging and then limits my to 50 messages a month, costing who knows how much per message after that. Other providers provide text messaging much cheaper, I'm told, but still it's more of a teenagers' thing. Adults usually have a service contract and plan that lets them just talk cheaply.

Re:dont know about the states

[Nodatadj]

In the UK I get 500 minutes and 500text messages and 500 wap minutes a month for about 35$
I'm quite happy with it, its about the cheapest monthly plan you can get that gives you a lot of text messages.

Text messages is mostly a teenage thing here in the UK, but many adults happily use it as well. Its very handy for communicating with someone when you're not able to talk, say at a conference or in a lecture.

Re:dont know about the states

[Anonymous Coward]

In the UK I get a hooker for roughly $28 dollers. I get 15 minutes or until I cum, whichever is the shortest. I think this is a great deal for a geek like me with RSI because otherwise I my wrists would be in constant pain.

Re:dont know about the states

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

In the US I get 300 minutes, 1000 weekend minutes, unlimited GPRS data service, unlimited SMS, no long-distance, no roaming, and unlimited calls to anyone on the same network for $40 a month.

I use SMS a lot - all my friends have it on their phones and it interoperates between networks quite well. Much easier than calling someone.

I have a Danger Hiptop. It's a java-powered PDA/Phone with AIM, email, a very nice
microbrowser that renders real HTML, and a lot more. http://www.danger.com

I hear it's coming to Europe soon, too, as it is a GSM device.

I'm in Oz...

[inf0rmer]

At least it costs the spammers money to send an SMS - not like email being free.

I'd get a spam SMS every couple of days.

Come to think of it, I might switch off my computer and phone, go hollow out a tree trunk and live in that for the rest of my life. At least no-one would find me!

Re:I'm in Oz...

[Pike65]

Yeah, but wouldn't it be ironic when they cut down your tree to print 100,000 leaflets for a mass letter drop?

>: )

Re:I'm in Oz...

[ajs318]

So pick a deciduous tree then!

Not much

[SJ]

I can't say we get a lot of SMS Spam... maybe 1 or 2 messages a week... but the main difference is that SMS Spam requires immediate attention, which makes is 10 times more annoying.

With email spam, you receive it at your leisure when you get the rest of your email. So you are essentially getting it when you are mentally prepared to.

SMS spam on the other hand interupts whatever it is you are doing because your phone beeps and demands attention. This means that if the message you get is spam, it is much more annoying because unlike getting a message from a friend, it is something completely worthless and nowhere near as interesting as what you were doing in the first place.

Pre-emptive, methinks

[Tsuzuki]

I'm Australian. I've had a prepaid mobile for about five years now and the only spam I really get is from my provider when I haven't recharged my account, or from BlueSkyFrog who I've bought ringtones from in the past. Spam is far worse in my e-mail inbox and sail mailbox than it ever has been on my phone.

Don't be fooled

[honestpuck]

Well actually SMS spam is an incredibly minor problem in Australia. I don't even believe this is a pre-emptive measure.

I think that what we have here is a government doing it's usual thrashing around trying to convince people it understands technology and its problems and trying to convince us that its doing something about our problems without having to admit that it either doesn't want or cannot address the real issues like email spam, an incredibly low broadband take up rate and a badly performing virtual telecommunications monopoly in the shape of Telstra.

Of course a large part of the Australian electorate will be convinced. Hey, those cool dudes in the Government and its bureacracy are doing a great job -- look at the way they handled SMS spam.

Tony Williams

yes, it is a problem :)

[Anonymous Coward]

i suppose not in the US, where there would be a
huge outcry given that the recipient pays for the
message.

i used to work for a "mobile services provider",
one of the services was targeting mass groups of
users. not technically spam, but most users never
read the fine print allowing the company's service
they were using (SMS-based services are quite big in some countries) to
automatically opt in to receive offers and other
bullshit.

i myself actually wrote the software that managed
these "subscriptions". i can't wash the stink off me yet.

after a few very irate phone calls to the call
center, i'm happy to say that this "feature" (dumb marketing brickheads)
was disabled due to the bad press it was generating for
hosted services :)

Not a huge problem, yet!

[aaronli]

No, SMS spam is not a huge problem downunder at the moment. But just from asking around it appears that SMS spam is on the rise on Australian modile networks.

Re:Not a huge problem, yet!

[Wolfcat]

I get one or two bit every now and then, but Vodafone are always telling me I haven't paid my bill yet... Is this spam or what :-)

not always

[Openadvocate]

Until recently you could send a email to my phone which I would recieve as a SMS(my adr. was phonenumber@sms.phonecompany.com). It has worked for about 4 years I think but was discontinued early this year. Mostly because they couldn't bill anyone for it and why give anyone something for free. Of course they could bill the reciever(me), but I could imagine the problems you could run into if someone was angry at you and decided to send you 10000 mails.

Better now

[m00nun1t]

Easier to close the gate on a wild horse before it escapes rather than after.

Re:Better now

[cperciva]

I disagree. Closing the gate is just as easy after a wild horse has escaped as it is before the horse has escaped.

Of course, closing the gate after the horse has escaped doesn't accomplish very much, but it's still an easy thing to do.

I have had a bad experience with SMS spam

[lithium100]

I live in Australia and recently my girlfriend got a series of very unsolicited SMS's from an unknown number. The problem continued for several weeks until she decided to go to the police (due to their sexual nature). There was virtually nothing the police could do. Thankfully, the SMS's have now stopped but my girlfriend had no legal support at all.

There is certainly a need already for tighter controls on SMS usage - particularly unsolicited SMS (eg; SPAM). Fines are probably a good idea but tracking down and pinpointing sources of bad SMS could be a costly exercise.

I see SMS spam as a major problem that will likely get worse in the coming years!

Re:I have had a bad experience with SMS spam

[Zeddicus_Z]

It's not a problem if you cant get the telco to fess up with their records.

Every SMS has an originating point, usually a phone. Each of these originating points are mapped to an account. Said accounts are billed on a per SMS sent basis. If it was in any way possible for a person to send SMS's without having said SMS's mapped to any of their identifying information, you can bet your ass the Telcos would put a stop to it pretty damn quick. After all, to them its just money. If they cant track an SMS back to an account (and by extention, details on whom to send the bill to), they're screwed.

So, all you need to do is get yourself a court order and you can track it back to someone. Of course, you may find its a pre-paid account, with fake details. In this case, you'd have to actually track the phone location while it was in use. That kind of thing is possible, but not my area of expertise/knowledge so I couldnt really give details of how its done.

Re:I have had a bad experience with SMS spam

[Zebbers]

dude. im sorry about that sms thing. i just wanted some loving.

Re:I have had a bad experience with SMS spam

[Chanc_Gorkon]

IN the US, providers have a way to send SMS's from the provider's web page. All you need is the number and anyone worldwide can sms you on your phone.

Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes I have this problem. At least before my mobile fell into the toilet.

can YOU turn off SMS?

[Openadvocate]

I don't get SMS spam and I ever use SMS. If SMS spam became a problem, I would just turn SMS off. But I have never had a phone where I could disable incoming SMS. Does anyone has such a phone?
Of course, one could just let the inbox fill up the memory but thats not a great way to solve it.

Re:can YOU turn off SMS?

[Simon Lyngshede]

If you find one, let me know will you? Phones are not for written messages.

About the whole spam think. Why is it that people won't look to Denmark. We have the solution. Spam in any form is banned and have been for many years. You are not allowed to call people, knock on their door, sending mail and sms, with the purpose of selling them something. This is all covered by one law, originally made to stop door to door sallsmen.

People have already been find for email spam and a trial on sms spam is in progress.

Re:can YOU turn off SMS?

[waferbaby]

You are not allowed to call people, knock on their door, sending mail and sms, with the purpose of selling them something

out of curiosity, have you noticed a decrease in the amount of (email) spam you receive?

Re:can YOU turn off SMS?

[ajs318]

Yeay! I think I will have to visit Denmark sometime in the near future, just for having cool laws that recognise the difference between a person's private home / telephone / computer is not a public advertising hoarding!

Is Denmark in the EU? If so, maybe there is hope .....

Re:can YOU turn off SMS?

[Anonymous Coward]

SMS SMS SMS SMS SMS SMS SMS

Geez man, use some pronouns for christ sake!

Re:can YOU turn off SMS?

[Realistic_Dragon]

The code to block incoming SMS is *35*password*16*# SEND

To remove it use #35*password*16# SEND

This should work on all GSM networks. You will need to get the password from your cellular service provider.

No failure notification will be sent to anyone who tries to send you a text message when the block is enabled.

Re:can YOU turn off SMS?

[Simon Lyngshede]

I never get spam for Danish companies. But of cause people in Asia and the US don't care.

Re:can YOU turn off SMS?

[LeftOfCentre]

Yes, Denmark is in the EU. There are some EU wide initiatives to combat spam as well, although I don't know what the current status is.

The problem...

[tka]

..seems to be very country and phone company specific. All I can say that I haven't gotten any sms spam. At least here in Finland I can deny all such messages.

If I only knew how to I would make a site where people could mark their country/phone company that sends spam so we could have some statics and it would help people to choose their phone company.

AT&T in the US...

[Spoing]

I started to recieve SMS spam on my AT&T phone. Very annoying.

After some frustrating attempts to figure out how to disable it, even being told by customer service that it "can't be turned off", I marched in to an AT&T mobile store and demanded _they_ turn it off. A smile, a nod, and a few keystrokes later they said they turned SMS off for me.

Customer service still says it's enabled on my phone and "can't" be disabled...yet, I've seen no more spams.

Re:AT&T in the US...

[arcanis]

You haven't tested it yourself? Send an email to your phone and see if you get an SMS. www.attws.com also has a page where you can send any phone an SMS.

There's no reason to guess whether they did what they said: Be certain. My AT&T wireless reps kept tellinig me all sorts of stuff that was false, so make sure you validate their claims.

Re:AT&T in the US...

[Osrin]

I travel a great deal internationally... spam fro 3rd parties is nowhere near as big an issue for me as spam from the telcos. When I arrive in france I don't need an SMS message that reads "WELCOME TO FRANCE", I know full well where I am without their help. Lately as I'm in a foreign country I've started to get repeated messages as my phone roams from carrier to carrier within one country.

Re:AT&T in the US...

[Spoing]

You haven't tested it yourself?

Thanks for the URL. To answer: Nope, I haven't tried and till now I wasn't too curious. I half expect that using SMS from an AT&T network will give different results from using it from another network. (Yep, it shouldn't matter...yet, not being able to turn off annoying options is also strange and smacks of marketers forcing 'features'.)

My AT&T wireless reps kept tellinig me all sorts of stuff that was false, so make sure you validate their claims.

I'm not surprised. Can't get a consistant answer out of them for other questions I've asked. The stunning thing is that each person is confident of the (often conflicting) answer they give.

Re:AT&T in the US...

[Anonymous Coward]

...it just so happens that I know "someone" that works for ATTWS customer service...he'd just like to let you know that even if you have the SMS "Feature" removed from your acct, you can still recieve messages. You can "opt out" of any ATT SMS - you have to send one back; and that'll be a dime please...and of course if you don't have the SMS feature - you can't send one back to opt out...

Spammers could send SMS free :(

[WormholeFiend]

by using this page http://www.rogers.com/english/wireless/sendpcs.htm l and a script.

Re:Spammers could send SMS free :(

[Anonymous Coward]

And that website could be a phonenumber harvester in order to get numbers to spam.

Anit SPAM phone software

[lithium100]

I wonder, especially with the increasing number of phones with the Java Micro Edition installed, if we will soon have anti-spam software available for your mobile phone? Much the same way as there is anti email spam software for Outlook and the like.

Amount of SMS spam in Aus

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in Aus, had my same mobile number for 5years now, I have never once received SMS spam.

Nor do I know of anyone who has (I'm a teenage so everyone has a mobile). So I dont see there is a problem he in Aus yet.

But it is great to see them lunching some pre-emptive action for once. They cant get the broadband industry right, but at least they are doing the right thing when it comes to mobile phones.

- Paragon

Re:From an Aussie

[Anonymous Coward]

Much of the spam is from the carrier you are on, advertising services, etc (Eg: Optus have been spamming re the Big Brother series atm).

SMS in Oz costs the sender not the receiver. However it is annoying since most carriers guarantee SMS delivery, with a target of within 3 hours, so most people expect an SMS message on their phone to be a time sensitive message, and hence drop what they are doing (within reason), and read it. This of course applies to unwanted phone calls, however it is rare to get such a call at 4:00am, however the SMS ads can be.

Something to think about..

[Anonymous Coward]

Many users on this site would say it's absurd to force P2P networks to restrict what travels through their network. They simply provide the service and it's up to the users to comply with the law or face the consequences, themselves. For this and various other reasons, the RIAA isn't thought of highly on this site. Fair enough.

So if the P2P networks aren't responsible for traffic over their networks, why should cellular companies be? When it's the RIAA telling P2P networks to stop file sharing of copyrighted music , that's considered a bad thing. But when the same thing is pushed to stop spam, that's a good thing? Make up your mind. The companies owning the networks just provide the service to send messages. Go after the spammers, not the provider.

Re:Something to think about..

[rkz]

I didn't say I agreed with it!

Re:Something to think about..

[Analysis Paralysis]

P2P networks are like web sites - they offer content which you elect to download or visit. Spam is "push" content which is delivered to you regardless of your preferences - this is the major difference.

As for targetting cellular phone companies, they can wield far greater control over their networks than ISPs can over the Internet - and can eliminate the threat of SMS spam simply by ensuring that any and every sender pays a "per message" fee.

Re:Something to think about..

[The_dev0]

Well, In Australia we do pay a per message fee already. What a few people may not be aware of, however, is that (In my experience, anyway) all of the SMS spam I have received has been to advertise services by the service provider themselves, and I reckon it's safe to say that they don't pay per message. I for one am sick of getting "did you know vodafone blah blah blah" SMS messages on my phone.

Why, we dont pay for it

[Zeddicus_Z]

Well, considering no-one in Australia actually pays for *incoming* SMS (or incoming calls for that matter), i cant see what the problem is. Sure, if we were like some other countries where we payed for both outgoing and incoming sms/calls/data, it would need to be banned. But really, when the incoming SMS costs you nothing to receive, and the phone companies get their compensation for those millions of messages from the spam originator, whats the problem? Other than sheer annoyance that is.

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[lithium100]

I think annoyance is the MAJOR problem. Why else would email SPAM be a problem?

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[ReLik]

you're an idiot. most countries don`t expect u to pay for incomming, otherwise if u hated someone u could text them 1,000,000 times a day, thats dumb. secondly the inconvenience of receiving a useless message every few minutes/hours is incredibly annoying.

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[alitaa]

i live in switzerland.
a friend went with his swiss mobile to yugoslavia (sp?) and has gotten alot of spam SMSs. when he got back, he got back, he was charged around $0.50 per SMS he received in yugoslavia. (some kind of foreign country fee)
and i would bet that this is other contries the same case; so yes, we actualy pay for the spam we receive

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[jdreed1024]

...whats the problem? Other than sheer annoyance that is.

That's precisely the problem. The "it doesn't cost you anything" argument is just the same as the "just hit delete" argument that e-mail spammers give. Annoyance shouldn't be permitted simply because it's free. It doesn't cost you anything to receive crank phone calls on your land line. But that's still illegal.

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[Anonymous Coward]

Yugoslavia doesn't exist anymore - so what the hell are you talking about?

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[alitaa]

serbia? does it really matter what name i use for it? everyone knows which country i meant, so get your flaming ass away

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[dirk]

But junk mail is completely legal. The arguement that is always used is that spam should be illegal because the receiver pays for the connection (by paying for a net connection), but junk mail is paid for by the sender (by paying the post office to send it) so that can't be made illegal. If you do not pay for incoming SMS messages, and the sender does pay for outgoing SMS messages, then it seems it would be exactly like junk mail and be legal.

Annoyance should not be a legal reason to ban something or punish someone. I find SUVs EXTREMELY annoying, and their drivers moreso. I know many people feel the same way I do. So can we ban SUVs and fine the drivers because they annoy us, even if they follow all the laws?

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[jwdg]

But bear in mind that the message capacity of phone is much more limited than your email account, so spam SMS in quantity could well constitute DoS - you don't *pay* for it, exactly, but you lose some of the functionality of what you've paid for. The interface on many phones is small and fiddly enough that I don't want to keep having to delete unwanted messages to stop my Inbox from filling up completely.

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[freeschwag]

I have Cingular in California (USA).

I DO PAY for incoming messages(10 cents each, can you believe it?), and you can send messages to any cingular phone by using 1235551234@cingularwireless.net for FREE with any mass e-mailer.

I use my text messaging rather frequently, it's kinda handy for leaving phone numbers and directions when your some place noisy like a club or baseball game.

I've received a couple "offers" from cingular and one spam from someone claiming to be related to Cingular (isn't that illegal?) the spam looks like this....

-----start SMS SPAM-----
From:36245
sales@mycngularpcs.com(cing ular)Wish you had more Reception? Well you don't have to! Get a Free Antenna Booster @ www.MyPcsCell.com
-----end SMS SPAM-----

The email addy is bad, the URL is active. Feel free to hack these guys, or plan a small scale DOS attack, I'm not sponsoring such things, just planting ideas in the heads of those more resourceful than me. :)~

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[IRLQBall]

I DO PAY for incoming messages(10 cents each, can you believe it?)

Holy crap! You're seriously being ripped off. I always knew that US mobile costs were high, but paying for INCOMING stuff? You gotta be joking. How much do you pay for outgoing SMS? Do you pay for incoming calls too?

In the last 6 months I've received about 1000 SMS messages and sent roughly the same. According to the stats on my phone I've clocked about 5 hours outbound calls and double that inbound. I've paid roughly EUR180 (US$210) in that period.

Given the amount of legitimate SMS traffic that I have, an SMS spam problem would annoy me more than e-mail spam. Most of the e-mails I receive are from lists I read, whereas all the SMS messages I receive are personal. It's a private way of getting my attention and I want to keep it that way.

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[Anonymous Coward]

You, my friend, are the idiot. Check out how the US pricing system works before you shoot your mouth off.

Re:Why, we dont pay for it

[Anonymous Coward]

So you don't mind if I call Switzerland "pussy-ass non-fighting cock-smoker land"?

I've gotten one..

[Sunnan]

I got my first SMS spam just yesterday, about "dates" and "chatting" etc. Not related to my phone provider.

The message implied that some unknown person who has a crush on me typed in my number, but they never said whom. The company seemed very untrustworthy so I didn't reply.

Re:No problem.

[Alan Partridge]

it wouldn't have helped much if they HAd asked parliament - look what happened in the UK. 2 million people marched against the war but it happened anyway.

The fuckers, what do I care if BP get richer? The profits all end up in tax havens rather than paying for British schools and hospitals.

Pehaps America is ahead in some areas

[seinman]

I always hear about how all the other countries have superior cellular telephone service than we do here in the states. However, neither me nor any of my friends have ever received a single unwanted SMS message. Finally, a good thing about the lack of acceptance of cellular standards here... no spam!

Re:Pehaps America is ahead in some areas

[JaredOfEuropa]

I never got one on my phone either, here in Europe. Most providers take a dim view of spamming.

Hmm or maybe it's because I have a corporate subscription, and regular subscribers do in fact get spammed.

Re:Pehaps America is ahead in some areas

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

"Finally, a good thing about the lack of acceptance of cellular standards here... no spam!"

Hmmm... you mean that the US doesn't use GSM? There are two major nationwide GSM providers in the US, T-Mobile and AT&T. Cingular is GSM as well.

Hmmm... maybe we don't have GPRS?
Nope, I have a very nice GPRS device that works everywhere I go - and I live in northern Colorado.

Hmmm... maybe our SMS systems don't interoperate?
Nope, I've sent SMS messages to people with Sprint, Verizon, AT&T (pre and post GSM rollout), T-Mobile, and Cingular. I've recieved SMS messages from people with all of those providers too. Even though Sprint and Verizon use a completely different wireless technology, I've never had a problem.

"I always hear about how all the other countries have superior cellular telephone service than we do here in the states."

There are some differences, but not as much as many Europeans would have you believe. In Europe, everything is GSM, so you can switch providers and keep your phone - but here in the US you can usually get a cellphone for free if you switch. You don't pay for incoming calls, but the person calling you does (here in the US, calling a cellphone costs the same as calling a landline).

In reality, there are three healthy GSM networks in the US (and they have all signed roaming agreements with each other), compatible SMS, and GPRS service. OK, we pay for incoming calls. But whoever's calling does not. Yes, it's a bit backwards. But it works. We deal with it by having plans with free nights and weekends and obscene numbers of minutes.

Re:Pehaps America is ahead in some areas

[Anonymous Coward]

you do realize that the original poster was trying to make a joke, and you sound like a fool for not getting it, right?

Well

[CausticWindow]

How difficult is it to just press delete, if you're not interested in the offer?

I agree that email spam is terrible, but SMS ads are free for the receiver and not very annoying.

Commercials and ads are here to stay, better get used to it.

Re:Well

[rapiddescent]

the problem is that many phones do not have much storage - so as you get more spam - real messages get lost because many providers will not keep SMS for more than a specific time period. Its hardly like you can install spam heuristics on a mobile phone.

In the UK, O2 (Was BT CellNet) sends spam to its customers. You can opt out by contacting them - although, They still sent me spam and I had to opt out (again). The spam is generally for BT's services and I've had some of the bogus spam messages that came out a while back: someone was jailed for sending messages with a high toll rate SMS reply number in them.

Pressing delete is fiddly when you are driving at over 100mph.

where is it going to stop? will the new 3G phones send annoying video spam? I just can't wait to get the "Sexy Linda" and Penis enlargement MMS messages. not...

Re:Well

[jafuser]

I agree that email spam is terrible, but SMS ads are free for the receiver and not very annoying.

Commercials and ads are here to stay, better get used to it.

They are not free everywhere. My friend/roommate has a super-cheap plan, with no included SMS messages included, but she can still send or recieve SMS messages for ten cents each.

So tell me... If SMS spam gets out of control, who the hell is going to pay for all that junk?

Re:Well

[ajs318]

My cellphone is my property. I give out my number to people strictly for the purpose of making legitimate calls. Some faceless corporation telling me about products and services I neither need nor wish to purchase is not, IMHO, a legitimate purpose -- especially when hidden behind a lie that I have won a prize that is probably of lower value than the cost of calling the premium rate number in the message. Additionally, I find the assumption that I would fall for such a cheap stunt highly insulting.

A world without advertisements is entirely possible and well worth working towards.

Re:Well

[mosschops]

How difficult is it to just press delete, if you're not interested in the offer?

So you'd be happy to be called in the middle of the night, and would just reply "no thanks, I'm not interested" to the caller?

but SMS ads are free for the receiver

They fill up my mobile Inbox, taking away space for other messages. They also have a habit of arriving in the middle of the night, waking me up.

and not very annoying.

Care to post your mobile number so we can sign you up for some free offers? You can always press delete on the ones that don't interest you.

Re:Well

[nigels]

Nobody has permission to spam my mobile phone.

It is part of my personal space, I pay for
the handset, and it is not intended as a
dumping ground for commercial garbage.

Having SMS spams seriously dilutes the
usefulness of SMS.

About SMS in Australia

[BiOFH]

American readers should keep in mind that SMS use here is nearly as ubiquitous as Starbucks stores in the states. We SMS all freakin' day long. Lots of US networks adopted digital late in the game, but down here there was no slow crawl from analog (it just is, I'm not making any commentary). So Aussies have been using services like this for a while and they've become a part of life. And now MMS and video phones is all the rage (if you believe the providers).

Walk around any mall here and you'll see lots of people thumbing messages to loved ones and friends. So, yes, spam pisses us off just as if it were email spam. It's annoying as hell.

Re:About SMS in Australia

[Nogami_Saeko]

SMS just isn't that popular in the US and Canada, despite most recent handsets having the ability.

Given the choice between text'ing someone or just ringing them up by voice, takes less hunt and pecking on a tiny keyboard, and just less efford all-round to just phone them and talk, or leave a message on their machine :)

My provider charges me $0.10/min (billed by the second) with 300 free minutes per month. SMS messages on the other hand are $0.10 each. It's cheaper to just phone someone and talk to them quickly :)

Re:About SMS in Australia

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

"And now MMS and video phones is all the rage (if you believe the providers)."

Actually, the situation is exactly the same in the US. T-Mobile is hyping a new Nokia video-camera-phone. Sprint has picture + audio MMS. Verizon and AT&T also have their respective products.

I haven't recieved any.

[amembleton]

I live in the UK and I've had a mobile since 1998, so thats 5 years now and I haven't received a single spam.

Its a good idea to clamp down on it though. I think there's a similar thing in the UK. People I know who have received spam all have Nokia phones. Their numbers have probably been sold by companies they've bought new ringtones and logos from. These are themselves sent to the phone via SMS.

I use a Panasonic phone, and before that an Erricson. Both phones can't change logos or ringtones via SMS, so I don't have a spam problem.

mobile voice spam is the worst

[freedommatters]

god i hate it when people call me on my mobile to try and sell me things. the other month i actually had a call from somebody claiming to be from orange (my provider) offering me a new phone.

because i wouldn't dream of doing business from an unsolicited phone call, and to get rid off him, i asked him if there were any details of the offer on the web. he said yes and gave me the address of some crappy mobile phone accessories company. he wasn't even from orange!

now i basically just cancel any call from a withheld number unless i know i am expecting something.

john
are you a Weapon of Male Destruction? shout about it with this snazzy t-shirt

Re:mobile voice spam is the worst

[ajs318]

now i basically just cancel any call from a withheld number unless i know i am expecting something.

I have this set up on my landline {BT}. Almost every anonymous call I ever got was a cold caller, so I don't miss them. Also it has the happy side-effect that my Work can't call me, because their switchboard does not send its number. My mobile company {Vodafone} claim not to be able to do it. Fortunately I can do a convincing impression of an automated service telling people that "Anonymous calls are not welcome on this line. If your business is important you may hang up and redial without whithholding your number." :-) Meanwhile there is talk afoot of banning anonymous calls altogether. I can't wait. Did people really use to answer a telephone with no idea who was on the other end of it?

Interestingly enough...

[rosewood]

just had a girlfriend get back from the old .au

She was very suprised that everyone used SMS down there. She said it was rather expensive to call someone on your cell and its $.25 to send someone an SMS. Before she left I tried to convince her to get a plan for her cell phone here that has SMS and she said it was silly.

Seriously, those in the know here that use SMS love it. Those that dont -- well poo on them.

However, its starting to have the AIM effect. One of her friends that was with us picking her up is a freshman in college and she was talking about how all her girlfriends text eachother at the mall... ...

plz no.

Re:Interestingly enough...

[waferbaby]

She was very suprised that everyone used SMS down there. She said it was rather expensive to call someone on your cell and its $.25 to send someone an SMS.

it's absurdly popular here; it's fairly common to see people walking around and sending an sms at the same time. and sadly, it does cost 25c a pop, which makes me wonder just how much it really costs the providers to send a single sms; surely it almost amounts to nothing for 'em?

A few facts

[Zeddicus_Z]

1) This is not a law. Its a code of practice, and no-where in the article does it say whether said code is mandatory.

2) This code of practice applies ONLY to "carriers and service providers". So Shazza's Crikey Crocadile Shoe Shop isn't going to be affected in any way when they decide to send out 3 million SMS spams advertising their latest evening shoe.

3) At 30c/SMS, spammers are up for one hell of a phone bill after sending all that spam. Considering the success rates of Email spam and the cost of SMS, id say SMS spam for any type of business is a money losing proposition that all but the stupidest PHB could clearly see. And those PHB's will quickly learn when they pay 400,000 in SMS bills for 10,000 in generated sales.

4) Related to above. Because of the cost of SMS, the only entities that could really use SMS spam effectively are Telcos. Hence why this only applies to telcos. But of course, as I said earlier, there's no word on whether its mandatory or not. What ifyour new telco simply decides not to be a member?

Re:A few facts

[amembleton]

SMS ads could be made localised so that they only affect your cell. For example there might be an offer on at your local Tesco so all those who are near the store at the time could be sent a text.

Also 30c/SMS???? I pay 5p (AU 12.5c) per message, and I get five free a day and I only had to pay £15 two years ago for that.

Text messaging can be sent in bulk from providers for companies for something like 2p a message.

FYI: Text messaging = SMS;

Re:A few facts

[stefanb]

At 30c/SMS, spammers are up for one hell of a phone bill after sending all that spam.

Unfortunatly, I don't have any reference to current figures, but at least in Europe, there's quite a number of wholesale SMS service providers that allow you to send SMSs for a lot less that that...

And as long as the receiving network has peering available between itself and some network the service provider has access to, there's little to control spam.

Re:A few facts

[teknokracy]

Keep in mind that the 30 cent charge does not apply if you EMAIL the phone. For example, my carrier allows outside people to email the phone for free at something like 6045551212@pcs.rogers.com or 6045151231@msg.telus.com This way nobody gets charged (At least not on my system) because incoming messages are free. This makes it very very easy to spam phones, and its not even practical or possible to spam using a phone as you would have to manually type in the message and all those numbers. Read: it wouldnt work unless you were sitting at a computer doing it.

Maybe it's not such a good idea ...

[jc42]

Here's my paranoid theory of the day:

Note that this bill requires that the carriers stop the spam. This requires that they develop and install software to detect it. So in addition to just transmitting messages, the carriers are required to install software that examines every message, classifies it as to content, and take some action based on that content.

It's hardly any secret that lots of governments are themselves developing such software. But in this case, the government has figured out that it doesn't have to pay for the development. It can require that the carriers pay for the development. Then the government can buy/take the software and reconfigure it for political uses.

Is this paranoid enough?

(If not, I could try harder. ;-)

Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[JanMark]

Sure, but only the telcos are able to mass SMS cheaply. Others will have to pay trough the nose for it (to the telco). It is not for nothing that most people get spammed most by their provider (or one of its partners, when abroad). Would it not limit the freedom of speach if anyone sending an SMS to multiple receipiants would be sue-able? These laws can be abused too.

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[LordLucless]

Australia != America despite starting with the same letter. No laws regarding freedom of speech here.

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[Anonymous Coward]

Freedom of speech includes the freedom to spell the word speech correctly, hadn't you heard?

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[JanMark]

Sorry, I am from The Netherlands :-) How can there be no freedom of speech?

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[JanMark]

I stand corrected! However, I guess my English is better than yout Dutch. Though it would not take mutch: I am word-blind like Stevie Wonder, but not as musical alas! :-) I've some paper about to be submitted, would you care to check that too?

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[Soahc]

I guess we're just not as paranoid as the americans in that we know we have free speech, as long as we use it wisly. As in, it's fine to say what you like about anything. But if you start slandering someone (abusing them, or saying ill things about them) then yeah your going to get in trouble.

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[LordLucless]

Well, we basically have the right to free speech, but there aren't the sort of legislations about it that there are in America. Basically you can say whatever the hell you like, unless you violate another law (libel, etc).

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[Anonymous Coward]

There is freedom of speech in Australia, it's just it's a common law right rather than being legislated,

Re:Would that not limit the freedom of speach?

[jhunsake]

I'm tired of that argument. I suppose that he doesn't try to speak Dutch.

If you're going to use a language to communicate, you should do it correctly. Otherwise you're not expressing what you mean to.

Anyways, I know what you meant, and he was just being a jackass.

just another reason...

[beyonddeath]

this is just another reason its called the stupid messaging service

It is pre-emptive.

[Rip!ey]

Are people having a huge problem with SMS spam yet, or is this sort of action more pre-emptive?

I'm an Australian. This has been reported in local news as well as on-line news. It is entirely pre-emptive. They are moving now to prevent the problems that people face with e-mail spam from crossing into a new domain.

Another potential problem with the new crop of mobile phones (those with inbuilt cameras) is also recieving attention, with likely bans from carrying them in some places. An example of this would be the change rooms at the local public pools. I'll leave it to the imagination as to why.

Just phone companies?

[danme]

When will something like this be introduced against the companies that allows spamming on my mail account...

Related: SMS "services"

[pe1chl]

SMS Spam is not really a problem here.
However, what has become a big problem very quickly: paid SMS "services".
You "subscribe" by sending a message to a (usually 4-digit) number, and from then on you receive "information" by SMS, which costs you a certain amount of money (around 1 euro) per received message.
The messages you receive usually don't have a clear source number, and it is not clear how to stop the stream. It is also unclear how many messages you will receive.

It was often very unclear from the advertisements that one would subscribe to a service. E.g. an advertisement says "receive your horoscope by sending 'yes' to 1234" (1 euro/message) but it did not tell you that this would mean you would receive such a message every day or every week, until you found out how to stop it. And there would be no way to find out, as the message had no source number and the telephone provider would assure you that they were unable to tell who sent you these messages, or to stop them from doing that.
(although they of course were able to transfer your money to said party)

After this went way out of control this year, there has been pressure from consumers to regulate these services. It now seems there are some guidelines, to which the providers have agreed to comply. Like publication of the unsubscribe info.

SMS spam was banned in Finland few years ago

[Anonymous Coward]

After a small company got a hefty fine for sending SMS spam, spam wasn't a big problem.

I call that service

[Councilor Hart]

When your cellphone switch from operator, you are roaming. This can or can not include different prices (or is it prizes?). Usually it does involve a change in what you pay, when using the phone.
Or perhaps you don't care about how much you pay. As a poor student, I do.
It's simply informing the customer, about the system you are using, and therefore at what rate you are calling.
Calling me how cheap they are, however is spamming.

Re:I call that service

[Jadrano]

Well, an SMS would not really be required to know which network you are using, the phone shows that, anyway, usually directly on the display and if you have configured the display differently, it can always be looked up. I think these "welcome messages" are quite annoying when you're travelling, but at least they only occur in clearly defined circumstances.

MOD PARENT DOWN - FLAMEBAIT

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD PARENT DOWN - FLAMEBAIT

I get spammed often enough

[stepwallace]

I'm in australia and I've changed phone networks a number of times (and kept the same number). I get an sms from telco's about once a month telling me about their great deals. Or even websites that support mobile features have sent me messages - got my first probably five years ago. In my opinion that's already too much. Not a pre-emptive measure at all. It's just not as bad as email yet.

It has to be said, what's SMS?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's SMS? :)

The only reason text messages are so popular is the strange phone pricing in most of the world outside North America.

It costs me less, using my cell phone in Canada, to call my friend on her cell phone in Australia, then it costs her mother, in Australia, to call her on her cell phone in the same city.

My call has to cross the entire Pacific ocean, and it's still cheaper...

SMS Spam - The Vodaphone Experience

[12x12]

I get 1 - 2 spam messages on my phone per day. Some days it's 4 - 5
This is a problem because:
1) No thank you, I do not wish to win a holiday. (Where I tend to travel, package holiday firms do not)
2) I'm not interested in dating. (I'm all fixed up there)
3) Ditto "Text chatting" (I have friends thank you)
4) I already have a call tarrif that suits me (If I want to change I will go looking for myself)
5) My phone only has space for 15 messages and if the phone is off for a day or two (yes I DO have weekends) I have to clear out the spam before getting on to the messages I want / need / should read.

I've talked (at length and with growing frustration) to the network provider (Vodaphone UK) and they tell me that it's not their problem and the spam is coming from a different network.
If this is so:
1) Why do they allow it onto their network in the first place?
2) Why is the return address a Vodaphone shortcut number?

Answers which come to mind are:
1) They're making pots of money out of this and so it will require legislation to protect the consumer.
2) They couldn't give a rats arse about their customers.
3) The UK government couldn't give a rats arse either so long as the network licence fees are being paid.

Solutions?
After the "pleasant chats" I've had with Vodaphone's "Customer Services" I feel like a small tactical nuke on a certain call centre is in order.

YOU HAVE WON A PRIZE!

[achilstone]

TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE PLEASE REPLY TO THIS SMS NOW. CALLS COST £1.50/MIN.

But what they don't tell you is the call will last 20 mins and that you have only won £5 and just as you scramble for pen and paper randomly cut you off before giving out their address to send your claim which would probably take 12 months to process in which time the prize company will go tits up after having been fined by the local telecom regulatory body and don't expect any sympathy from your mobile phone company they'll fight too and nail from giving you back a refund after all is was a premium rate number you silly dimwit

Pay per message

[bagofbeans]

Payment per message simply legitimises the spam.

Also, nothing to stop a provider doing deal to pass the spam for free for institutions such as CC providers in return for some benefit.

If you're going to something postive, insist that the recipient cannot be charged for receiving SMS.

Telco spam

[woyouwenti]

I worked at one of the leading anti-spam companies in the dot-com boom. A leading telephony software provider tried to purchase our company for big dot-com bucks just so they could use our software to stop SMS/telephone spam. They believed it was going to become a big problem. I believe they will be right!

Charge them 1$ per byte

[montrealdakar]

If you think SMS is annoying wait to get full multimedia ads video+sound. MMS is starting to really pick up in Europe not sure why North America is behind.

Re:No problem.

[ajs318]

Yup.

Had the Queen acted to prevent the war {she was pretty much the only person in a position to do this} I think that she might have earned some respect throughout the British Commonwealth. She didn't. Well, sooner or later, some country somewhere in the C/W will be holding a referendum on becoming a republic, and they might remember that.

Mertis of SMS?

[silverhalide]

Has anyone actually found SMS to be remotely useful? I can see some rare instances, such as being in somewhere you can't talk, but can't it wait? One of my friends sent me an SMS once, but in trying to reply I found it was clunky, hard to use, and slow as hell. So I called him back. It was much easier. Until they can increase the speed you can use SMS, I just find it easier to have it completely disabled.

Re:Mertis of SMS?

[Tanaka]

SMS is massive in europe, overtaking voice calls for the younger generation (under 25's?). So I guess it must have it's uses.

Re:Mertis of SMS?

[Nermal6693]

Over here in New Zealand, lots of teenagers would much rather pay 20c (NZ) for an SMS than 69c a minute or whatever it is for voice. The fact that you can easily say a lot more in one minute than u can with an SMS seems to be irrelevant!

Re:Mertis of SMS?

[Ramadog]

Where I find sms usefull is if my wife is on town and we needed something (example some groceries). She gets back to her car to come home and turns on her phone. Gets the sms and if she it near a suitable shop she buys what is needed.

Beats driving about 3/4 of an hour just to buy a loaf of bread.

from the guy that legislated to ban porn :)

[Anonymous Coward]

richard alston, the minister in charge of telecommunications and stuff was the guy who legislated against online pornography and gambling

the only result of which is all australian porn and gambling sites are now hosted off shore

every year or so he talks about the draining effects on productivity of email spam

as numerous other people have pointed out having to pay about 20 cents for a 256 odd character plain text message isnt likely to result in spam from anyone except the providers who dont have to pay and can probably just include waivers or agreements in all contracts anyway

on a related issue australia has three 2.5 or 3g networks which can be used in conjunction with digital cameras in phones to simply send low resolution pictures

the issue was brought to light when photos of a stock guru (rene rivkin) convicted of insider trading to nine months weekend detention were printed on a tabloid newspaper. they had been taken inside the silverwater facility by a mobile phone. mobile phones are prohibited in australian jails but are a hot contrabrand item

in australia its legal to take images or video of people without knowledge or permission as the only privacy type law relating to that is a listening devices act

the stated intention of proposed legislation is protect privacy in changing rooms and so on from having nude pictures posted on the net

however the implications will likely be larger perhaps even making foot in the door journalism illegal if people dont consent to release their image, as quality of mobile phone images is currently so poor to have the effect desired higher resolution technologies would need to be banned

Vodafone could (but won't) help.

[Richard_J_N]

I get quite a lot of "You have won £500, please call this (premium rate) number to claim" spam. Since so much of it is identical, it would be trivial for my provider (Vodafone) to block it all, simply by scanning for any identical message sent out to more than say 100 people. But they aren't interested - I had a long dialogue with their customer "services" people and they don't seem to want to bother. Registering with the UK telephone preference service helps a bit, but the only other alternative is to ask the provider to totally disable SMS.

Re:Vodafone could (but won't) help.

[skinquad]

Vodafone NL introduced a spam filter like you suggest (filter for identical messages and block them). Only registered companies are allowed to send large amounts of messages. It wont solve all the spam but it will bring back the fraude and fake messages. I guess Vodafone UK (and in other countries) will setup this filter in the future as well...

I just cancelled the SMS option on my cellphone...

[ChilyWily]

as a last defense - I'm a very low user of SMS (1-2 messages per 2-3 months) so I was on a 'per use' basis where I would pay for each outgoing (10 cents) and incoming (2 cents) messages. It wasn't too bad and it was useful as I could use the service when I needed to. I'm not sure how, but in the past two months I've received around 12 spam messages originating from web spammers. This is quite a surprise since I haven't ever given out my number to anyone.

I called the cellphone company each time, the first time they gave me a refund on *one* of the spam messages, the second time they wanted me to sign up for a monthly $4.99 fee to get all those messages for 'free' - I explained my situation but it was all in vain, the droid I got couldn't understand why I wouldn't want to pay only $4.99 a month for messages I did not want - in the end I just cancelled the SMS service because heck I had already wasted 20mins with the cell phone rep and that was the only way I wouldn't be paying for this crap.

I think if the system charged the phone companies for relaying spam across their networks to user the problem would be solved yesterday. So long as people are willing to tolerate this there is no incentive for change. I propose that everyone mention spam to their networks and if possible opt out of the service. That will get some attention (eventually).

The source

[phorm]

One problem I would have with cellspam is tracking the source of messages. With DSM (like SMS, but standing for Digital Short Messaging) my phone has an email address. Others can email my phone (useful when overseas friends wish to contact me), but it does not seem to have a way to show headers, etc?
Would this put an onus on the cell-provider to cache this messages so I can view them with a POP/IMAP program capable of viewing headers? Because otherwise, tracking SPAM sources could be difficult.

SMS Spam in Iran

[roozbeh]

Hello, this is Iran, and it's just a few months since we have SMS in our network, which is a government monopoly. Ok, so you think there will be no need for a law to restrict netword operators from passing spam? No, you're wrong! The government operator itself SPAMs us. But what do you have to advertise? It's government after all. Hmm... Well, it's a religious government, and we've got all those kind of prophets and saints. On the birthday or the death day of each, we receive spam celebrating or mourning each of them, using high school essays Persian transcribed horribly into Latin!

Re:SMS Spam in Iran

[Alan Partridge]

sounds like you need a separation of church and state to me.

we (in the UK) could do with one too...

Re:SMS Spam in Iran

[Anonymous Coward]

We used to have one in America, and we might have one again if somebody would FUCKING KILL JERRY FALWELL AND GEORGE W. BUSH!

And then a separation of business and state would be nice too; I'm tired of getting ass-raped by the IRS.

Re:SMS Spam in Iran

[Alan Partridge]

separation of business and state? you mean they're NOT the same thing?

Re:SMS Spam in Iran

[roozbeh]

Well, we have a famous religious MP, from the time of Shahs (now deceased, of course), whose face is printed on IRR 100 notes. A quote accompanies the face: "Our religion is the same as our politics, and our politics is the same as our religion".

RENOT 2 BAD.1!!11!!!11!1!!1!1!1 WTF LOL YET

[Anonymous Coward]

IF UR SUGASTNG TAHT THEIR R 10 MILION RACIALY EUROPAAN PEOPLE IN TEH US WHO WERANT BORN THEIR TH3N UR AN IDIOT11!1!!! OMG LOL




Important Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)

Re:RENOT 2 BAD.1!!11!!!11!1!!1!1!1 WTF LOL YET

[Anonymous Coward]

why r u still alive?

SMS is cheap or free in th UK

[Anonymous Coward]

Ive had a pre-pay cell since 1998 and a contract since 2001. On the contract i get 600 free messages a month for only £15. However the big rip off is media messaging (MMS) at 2p/KB up&download. However it has always been free too recieve sms. I seem to get a lot of spam sms, but that may be, for all the ringtones and graphics I order. (which are sent by SMS)

VerizonWireless

[Anonymous Coward]

I use VerizonWireless, and I've never received a single SMS spam during the entire time I've had service (since last August)...

VZW does charge for incoming AND outgoing SMS messages, so spam SMS would be very costly.

READ THIS AND THEN MOD PARENT DOWN!!

[Anonymous Coward]

READ ME

As an Australian

[harikiri]

...I have yet to see *any* SMS spam on my phone. However, I have yet to participate in any television/special-offer "sms to win"-type promotions. Which is where I assume marketing companies get their data from.

As such, I think this is a pre-emptive move, and one which I am glad is coming. Because of the nature of SMS, it will be harder for companies to avoid being tracked down (unlike spam). This is a good first step!

Does happen, not frequently though...

[Gandalf_Greyhame]

I have recieved a little bit of spam via SMS. Usually something like "Show this message to [Company name here] and receive 10% Discount" They usually don't bother me, unless I am receiving them in class or something to that effect.

I think it could be a little pre-emptive, but then again, if this attitude was adopted on the internet all those years ago maybe we wouldn't all be spammed so much.

PARENT POSTER WORSE THAN GOATSE

[Anonymous Coward]

TR0LLTALK P0STER AKA VLAGGOT!

Clearly I'm missing something...

[fishexe]

What is this Sega Master System spam you speak of??

Re:No problem.

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is that our government has the power to send troops without asking parliament.

That's not the problem. The problem is that we (oz) are now soooo deep in the pocket of the US that we are obliged to support almost every action they make globally. Even when our Govt does not agree with what the US are doing, we are forced to go along after having supported them for pretty much everything else in the last 100 years or so. We've all seen the US "you are with us or against us" attitude, and we've been "with" them for so long now that any alternative looks like a slur on the US leadership. It's fucking bullshit.

Mobiles not a necessity

[sbszine]

Whenever I hear about SMS spam etc, it reminds me how happy I am not to have a mobile phone. Aside from the spam, you have the problem of being continually contactable by bosses, in-laws etc. It is nice to be able to read a book in the park and not be badgered by things that can wait until I am home.

Some may require one for business, but for the majority of people a mobile phone is an AIM-style novelty rather than a true necessity.

Comment not intended as a troll. Interesting replies welcome : )

Re:Mobiles not a necessity

[Cackmobile]

ever tried turning it off.

Re:Mobiles not a necessity

[sbszine]

You then lose the benefits as well as the annoyances. Not owning a mobile is like having one that's switched off, but without the monthly fee...

its the telecos

[weighn]

i'm in Aust. and the only sms spam I've ever received was from my carrier. I'd really like to see that outlawed.

Direct Marketters Challenging Ban Already

[redwolfoz]

The code requires carriers and service providers to only send bulk SMS messages to users who have "opted in", and to allow them to "opt out" of receiving the messages.

From ZDnet Australia:

However the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA), which had participated in developing the code, has challenged the ACA's assertion.

Carriers won't be required to ensure consumers have "opted-in" to receive short-message-service (SMS) marketing under a new communications industry code released last week according to the ADMA.

Actually.. it is law.

[Andrew Scott]

1) This is not a law. Its a code of practice, and no-where in the article does it say whether said code is mandatory.

Actually, it became news because it became a law. Or effectively, anyway. The ACA has adopted it, making it part of the conditions of having a telco license.

See the media release from the ACA that says "It requires carriers and carrier service providers to comply..."

It seems to be directed at the bulk SMS operators that pay for a feed into a carrier's messaging system. From a quick flick through the documents, it seems carriers will have to put compliance with this "code of practice" into their contracts with the bulk SMS operators. Carriers that don't will be in breach of their licence.

The cost of SMS is getting lower. According to this page, you can send bulk SMS at 18c / msg (that's only US 12c) in Australia right now.

Andrew Scott

SMS Spam

[togtog]

I am thankful that I have never given out my SMS address to anyone. In over a year I haven't gotten a single spam on it. What I want to know is, when will we get over this whole spam friendly system?

I think if we had a system where you could issue ID numbers, long hex numbers, to potential callers and spammers then auto filter out anything without the proper ID number we would be a lot better off. Think about a fancy party, you only send out invites to those you want to show up, and when they get there they have to show the invite or get kicked out.

With proper setup, it should become just as common as phone numbers on applications and in forms. Just enter your email or other address, then enter your auth ID for that contact. If they break it the rules, delete the auth ID and their junk is stopped at the ISP or [cell] phone co.

Just my 2 cents but you'd think in this day in age we wouldn't all be on our knees begging for mercy instead of standing up and figuring a way out of this mess.

-tog

Re:Native American (severly off topic - sorry)

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does everybody in America need to labelled: "Native American"/"African American"/"Ugly American" etc etc???
Is it so important to you that you need to distinguish yourself as different to these people?

As I was frequently told by my schoolfriends:

"Grow-up, or blow-up!"

Vodafone fakes "missed call" messages

[876]

I'm an Australian ex-Vodafone customer. As well as receiving their advertisements ("Enter our competition to see the Backstreet Boys live!"), I received erroneous missed call messages. (Background info: the carrier has a service where, if the owner doesn't answer their phone, the caller is prompted to enter their phone number into the keypad. This is then SMS'd to the phone's owner.)

Occasionally I would receive such messages, telling me I had missed a call from someone who came up on my calls list fairly often. Suspicions mounted when I received such a message completely at random, without my phone ringing beforehand, when I'd already been connected to the network for at least half a day. Sure enough, said person hadn't tried to call me for over a month -- but in checking out this incident, I'd made a pointless call through their network, using my phone's credit.

At least spam can be disregarded... message forgery is a different kind of pain in the arse. These messages came rarely enough to avoid inciting user backlash, and are subtle enough to make it difficult to cite claims of misinformation on Vodafone's part, particularly on mobile phone plans which completely avoid sending any type of usage records to the owner voluntarily.

Re:Vodafone fakes "missed call" messages

[The_dev0]

That's exceptionally sly, and I haven't noticed that before. I'll have to keep an eye out for it, as I also get the odd "call missed" message that I can't follow up successfully. I wonder where the law stands on that kind of behaviour?