Jamster Tries To Deflect Complaints With PR-Friendly Parental Controls
Mobile content seller Jamster (known as Jamba in other parts of the world) has been held up as one of the prime proponents of somewhat shady business practices that are hurting the ringtone business. Its aggressive advertising and unclear subscription schemes that have sucked in a lot of kids have landed it in regulatory trouble in Europe and in court in the US. But now, in the UK, it's set up a parental opt-out system so people can go enter their kids' phone numbers and preclude them from subscribing to any Jamster services. This isn't much more than window dressing that serves to shift the blame back to parents when their kids end up with a bunch of unwanted charges. Instead of forcing parents to opt their kids out of services, why not just change the underlying business and advertising practices so it's not a problem in the first place?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
