Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the step-in-the-right-direction dept.
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?
This is nice and all...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 5, Insightful
...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...
by
dhuv
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Most of the spam comes from countries where that law cannot/wouldnot reach.
SMS Spam from my provider
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 5, Interesting
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
by
KDan
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· Score: 5, Interesting
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
-- Carpe Diem
Right on...
by
jdreed1024
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· Score: 5, Insightful
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.
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.
Don't be fooled
by
honestpuck
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· Score: 5, Insightful
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
AT&T in the US...
by
Spoing
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· Score: 5, Informative
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.
-- A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
Slashdot Mirror
...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?
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
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.
There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
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.
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
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.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.