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

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

Tue, Feb 3rd 2009 11:10pm — Carlo Longino

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

22 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2009 @ 12:41am

FYI
In India there is no incoming SMS/call fee (unlike in US&A). No biggie.
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Dan, 4 Feb 2009 @ 1:04am

You pay to receive calls and messages in the US?? That sounds ludicrous to me.
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Snipergod87, 4 Feb 2009 @ 1:22am

Re:
Depends on your service plan... I dont pay to either make calls or send texts
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Paul`, 4 Feb 2009 @ 4:32am

Re: FYI
What? You pay the receive? What the hell is that!
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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
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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?
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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!
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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.
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VivekM, 5 Feb 2009 @ 11:40pm

Even if I forget the money part ... it is still annoying
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starjupiter, 16 Jul 2009 @ 2:59am

SMS services
There are many paid sms services and free sms services
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halum, 30 Sep 2009 @ 2:59am

Re: AOL alerts spam
INDIA IS THE BEST JIYO GURU
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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
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max payne, 26 Feb 2011 @ 1:54am

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