India's Do Not Call List Now Covers SMS Spam, Too

from the would-you-like-to-extend-your-size-to-160-characters? dept

The problem of spam text messages sent to mobile phones has been a significant one in many countries, though it hasn't reached epidemic proportions (yet) in the US. Operators have done a pretty good job of stopping the messages from getting delivered, while the cost and difficulty of sending them has also been a useful obstacle. Some, however, still manage to get through. Over in India, the government has extended its do not call list to cover commercial text messages as well, and has mandated that operators must add some tracking information to the messages so regulators can track down their senders. In the US, it's illegal for telemarketers to call cell phones, while the not-particularly-effective CAN-SPAM act makes it illegal to send spam email to phones. At least one court has ruled that SMS spam is covered by the law banning telemarketing calls to mobiles, but it would be nice to see cell phones get some extra protection from spam -- especially since it often brings some financial pain as well as annoyance.
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Filed Under: do not call, india, sms, spam


Reader Comments

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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 12:41am

    FYI

    In India there is no incoming SMS/call fee (unlike in US&A). No biggie.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Dan, 4 Feb 2009 @ 1:04am

    You pay to receive calls and messages in the US?? That sounds ludicrous to me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Snipergod87, 4 Feb 2009 @ 1:22am

    Re:

    Depends on your service plan... I dont pay to either make calls or send texts

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Paul`, 4 Feb 2009 @ 4:32am

    Re: FYI

    What? You pay the receive? What the hell is that!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Docrings, 4 Feb 2009 @ 5:14am

    AOL alerts spam

    ... I get 20 AOL alerts a day on my cell phone and can't turn it off. I never signed up for them, and there is no website I can find on AOL to turn them off.

    There is no obvious way to "register" your cell phone number and take control of the calls through AOL. My cellphone carrier says there is no way to filter the incoming calls by sender.
    I have to turn off my text alert ringer due to the spam, and now miss important business text messages.

    I'm all for smaller government, but we do need a law allowing one to turn off text spam!!!

    Cheers,
    Doc

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Zeiche, 4 Feb 2009 @ 7:18am

    SMS spam

    I remember getting a ton of spam from the mobile phone company itself. Each time I called them to complain they insisted there was nothing they could do to take me off their spam lists. I wonder how they're going to like this new law?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Medic, 4 Feb 2009 @ 7:48am

    Re: AOL alerts spam

    Doc, change your phone number. Yes, it will be an inconvenience for awhile, but you won't miss important messages either!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    long island girl, 4 Feb 2009 @ 8:03am

    People calling you to buy their products is really annoying and irritating most especially if you are very busy at the time they called you, although some of them maybe helpful to others. What's making it worst is when you are being charged by them calling and texting you. They must follow strict guidelines and charge people if they are the ones requesting for their service.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    VivekM, 5 Feb 2009 @ 11:40pm

    Even if I forget the money part ... it is still annoying

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
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  11. identicon
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  13. identicon
    starjupiter, 16 Jul 2009 @ 2:59am

    SMS services

    There are many paid sms services and free sms services

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    halum, 30 Sep 2009 @ 2:59am

    Re: AOL alerts spam

    INDIA IS THE BEST JIYO GURU

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    adforte, 14 Jan 2010 @ 7:18am

    SMS Marketing - Bulk sms

    AdForte provides SMS coverage within 1295 networks in more than 200 countries worldwide. With our platform you can: 1 Manage and send messages from your web browser 2 Download and install standalone application on your PC 2 HTTP API which you can integrate into your system 4 SMPP interface For more information you can visit our website http://www.adforte.com

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Feb 2011 @ 2:30am

    Re: FYI

    It is not so. In India all local incoming calls as well as SMS are free

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    max payne, 26 Feb 2011 @ 1:54am

    Re: Re: FYI

    in fact, if your operator is Virgin, they pay you to receive calls! :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

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