Get involved in fighting SPAM - What does it mean to consent?

[WireFree]

The opt-in system will i.m.o. never come into force because it would hurt business too much and lead to a massive loss of jobs, i'm not specifically talking about email spam but also SMS and Call Centers.

I don't think an opt-in system is difficult to achieve for most businesses - especially in this day and age. In fact many businesses do implement it successfully - a number of large and well known chain store have a opt-in box when you sign-up for their store credit cards. Likewise, organisations with a Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. who are able to successfully attract followers, fans, etc. already have marketing channels where people opt-in to receive communication. These forms of communication are preferred by people and they also have the choice to opt-out at a later time.

In many cases people are also willing to opt-in on a list if you offer them a free voucher, toaster, airtime, etc.
A good example is the free airtime offered on Colgate toothpaste recently. The Terms and Conditions can be found online at http://www.colgatesa.mobi/terms-conditions. One clause states, "By entering this competition you authorise the organiser and/or the promoter, to collect, store and use (not share) personal information of entrants for communication or statistical purposes." This is an excellent example of how to implement a legitimate opt-in list.

The communication becomes a problem, when there are no legitimate channels to opt-out at a later stage (after previously opting-in) or you get a call from a call-center or SMS on your new cellphone number that you have not given out to anyone other than friends and family.

[ambo]

I'm surprised that there have not been more responses to a law that effectively will make spam legal....

[Saajid]

I'm surprised that there have not been more responses to a law that effectively will make spam legal....

I don't think many people know about this thread. RPM should create an article on the front-page and link from there to to this thread. We will get plenty of responses.

[dominic]

I don't think many people know about this thread. RPM should create an article on the front-page and link from there to to this thread. We will get plenty of responses.

article on its way

[rpm]

I think the definition of consent should be clear: Unless I give explicit consent to send me information, you should not be allowed to send me information.

As for reselling my contact information, it should only be allowed if I have given explicit consent. This should be made very clear to any consumer (hence no sneaky terms and the like).

[rpm]

Just to reinforce what we need from you: Please tell us what 'consent' means to you - hence when a company send you spam, and what can they sell or forward your personal details to another company?

[thysb]

In my mind, consent does NOT entail ANY assumptions. Just because I park my vehicle in a public parking spot, does not give consent to someone to steal it, and because I wasn't there to object at the time of them stealing it. This is what this comes down to.

[sagrenm]

I have written two blog posts about this last year, relating to spam i was receiving from a company fronting as vodacom points

http://sagren.blogspot.com/2011/02/v...ints-scam.html
http://sagren.blogspot.com/2011/02/v...esolution.html

I also included the process one has to follow to de-regsiter yourself from these consumer databases that many of us are well aware of now, the problem however is that when people don't add their voices to the intrusions of their privacy via spam, these companies just gain more momentum and continue to steam roll consumers with spam.

@wirefree, opt in and opt out services from legitmate services that we have signed up for has never been the problem, the problem is when we give big companies our personal information, there is no guarantee to us the consumer that our information wont be shared or sold to other marketing companies that we haven't signed up with, as per the rights from the Consumer Protection Act Regulations - 1st April 2011 on the http://www.dmasa.org/ website, i understand them, but i haven't registered on the national opt out register because this means thereafter that i am consenting that i don't want to receive any marketing information from any companies, even the legitimate organisations i genuienly want to be updated about new products etc.

My point is, it is wrong for companies to forward you any information about anything to which you have not given them consent, i did not give them my permission nor did i give them my personal contact information, this is an infringement of my rights and according to the communication act is illegal and unlawful.

[thysb]

I would also like to add that I think there should be something added to any advertising message, which is something I have never been able to get from someone either sending me an sms, email of phoning me - where did I sign up for this? As per law, they should be able to supply this, but as said above, I have never been able to get this info from anyone.

[sagrenm]

I would also like to add that I think there should be something added to any advertising message, which is something I have never been able to get from someone either sending me an sms, email of phoning me - where did I sign up for this? As per law, they should be able to supply this, but as said above, I have never been able to get this info from anyone.

My experience as covered in my blog, i attempted to follow the trail to find out how they got my information, people were very evasive, i could only find out who was spamming me, Wendy knowler pointed me to some leads but i could not get that information about how they got my personal details. And these days with the spam push notifications for smartphones you receive, it is becoming much more dangerous to unknowingly subscribe to these spam services. It needs to legislated that spamming is illegal not just because it is an annoyance but because people are unknowingly paying for subscriptions they do not know about.

And just to clarify, when i consent, i am giving only one entity permission, i do not wish to give subsidiary companies of a parent company any permission, if this is the case then there should be an annexed document where it must be clarifed to me what i am signing, in fact I think the marketing consent part of the form should be an additional stipulative document by itself. Somehow i believe that my consumer information is being shared amongst industries, i.e. if i sign with Miway, then Hollard, outsurance, momentum, frank.net, first for woman, discovery will all get my information

[bedashii]

I hate spam, everyone hates spam. That's why it's so hard to believe that they would do this. Just the fact that (and this is related to an article I saw on MyBroadband.co.za earlier on this year) that I have to PAY to opt out of SMS spam is ridiculous!

[sagrenm]

I hate spam, everyone hates spam. That's why it's so hard to believe that they would do this. Just the fact that (and this is related to an article I saw on MyBroadband.co.za earlier on this year) that I have to PAY to opt out of SMS spam is ridiculous!

Hi Bedashii, that is absolutely ridiculous that you have to pay to opt out, but was this a service that you legitmatly indemnified your consent for, or was it just a company that you never signed up for?

[Segg]

If you spam people, I'm sure they are going to make sure their services are hosted elsewhere, where the countries laws protect privacy. Do you really want to kill an already fragile communications industry in SA? (not talking about phones and whatnot)

[DarkBlood]

I'm going to keep the expletives to a low but <bleep> that!!!

My biggest problem with spam (apart from the fact that I didn't ask for it in the first place), is that a lot of them (especially sms) want you to opt out by smsing something...which costs me R2 to do. So, I must pay you R2 to stop harassing me about something you shouldn't have anyway? That's like me bootlegging Sony's CDs and then telling them to pay me to stop selling them. What kind of logic is that???

For the email ones, I'm chewing my damn data clicking on that "unsubscribe" link. I don't want to waste that 10 seconds or that 237kb to get you to stop doing something that you shouldn't be doing in the first place. Why must I take the effort to get you to stop harassing me, in the first place???

Bugger off!

[RedRum]

6. To battle spam effectively, the onus should be on the sender to prove that the recipient did indeed consent to receive spam.

it would be interesting to see how this can be done without confirming the recipient details of the spammer's target to the spammer him self - ie an isolated reporting and investigation system is required.