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

[dominic]

Quick question. My wife and I have been getting calls from 0871350590, which is a computer (starting with a loud YEBO) saying that you qualify for a Blackberry phone, even if you're blacklisted. Press 1 to talk to an agent or 9 if you're not interested. So where is the consent in this? It doesn't tell you where they're calling from. This is just a new way to prevent you shouting at a call centre agent, but you don't get a chance to 'unsubscribe', unless you're willing to talk to an agent and waste more of your own time...

sounds like an autodialler which would be a no-no once this Bill is passed into law

[dominic]

People generally forget that spammers, by their very definition, don't really care WHO the mails / SMS' go to.

Say I'm some dodgy guy, and I send e-mails to 100,000 e-mail addresses randomly scraped off the internet, for the sole purpose off generating click-based revenue / soliciting some random products / phishing personal details. Why would I care if the people I send the mails to are on some "list" somewhere. Am I going to check the e-mail addresses against some "list" to check if I can actually e-mail them or not? Heck no!

Say I'm another dodgy guy that owns a "Phone this number, I get payed" line. I SMS 5,000 people informing them that they've won the SA Lottery, and to collect (Or, If I want to be evil - To opt out), they simply need to call the number (Which I just leave them on hold till they close the call, generating income). Would I check if they're on the "Special SMS Opt-Out" list? Definitely not!



TL;DR: This will hurt valid e-mail / SMS services, and do nothing to prevent spam.

i hear you & there is no way this is going to deal with spam originating outside of SA or reduce all spam but it will have an impact on the growing local marketing via sms and email

[MiY4Gi]

What I'd like to know is, how does parliament propose that they enforce the opt-out command when all your information has already exchanged countless hands before you've had the chance to opt-out? How are they going to find all the copies of your information that was exchanged, and force ALL the record holders to remove those records?

The bill itself has no apparent benefits, and enforcing the bill is impossible, so again I ask, what is parliament's rationale behind this proposed bill?

Can anyone answer this?

[naids]

We should have an opt out system where the service providers pay for the opt out portion of the message (be it sms).
Currently the consumer has to pay this however SP's will think twice if they are paying for this.

[ajax]

We should have an opt out system where the service providers pay for the opt out portion of the message (be it sms).
Currently the consumer has to pay this however SP's will think twice if they are paying for this.

Would be nice but open to abuse. If I hate WASP xyz, what prevents me from sending multiple opt-out sms's knowing they will pay for each one?

[ambo]

The technical loophole that I mentioned earlier was actually demonstrated today by the latest telemarketing gimmic.

Get a phone call that I can't take while I'm in a meeting. There is a voicemail with goes along the lines of "Press one for us to call you back or press nine to opt-out." Obviously some kind of automated message system.

The problem here is that they could quite easily claim that they gave me the opportunity to opt-out despite the fact that their machine was talking to my machine. Once the voicemail has been captured there is actually no way for me to opt-out and no way for me to identify the caller either.

This already annoys me and this new law would legitimise this practice.

[Thugscub]

No to spam.

[Reelix]

From: +27793495913

Message:

CONGRATS! Your Cell no has won R960,000 in FIFA/UK Premier League Promo,REF NO: PT5081UK. For Claims,contact Agent Michael Lawrence: 0789305999,fifauk12@ymail.com

Sent to me on the 24th of May. I've received many more, but simply delete them.

This brings up a few interesting questions:

1.) Is this message actually FROM +27793495913 ? I've dealt with SMS systems before, and was able to send SMS's from "082" (Yes, those 3 digits, and nothing more)

2.) If that IS the real number (Assuming 0793495913 and 0789305999), this person should be RICA'd. May I please have their full name, ID Number, and home address, as I wish to send them a "STOP" message - In person (As well as potentially getting them arrested for fraud, unless by some freak chance I have actually won some R960,000 in a UK-based promo ;p)

[The_Librarian]

Recently I commandeered a PC up, and installed ASSP (Anti-Spam-SMTP-Proxy) at the company.

This required a PC, some time spent setting it up, a place in the server room and electricity. Which is company resources, which the spammers are siphoning off (stealing, in other words).

Not only that, recently they've managed to exploit a vulnerability in Exchange 2003 (we've started to lean towards that angle heavily) which allows them to "inject" their spam directly into the Exchange message queue, so that the company's server is sending out spam. More on that sad story here. This means that, should spam traps catch us, we'll be placed on a blacklist (such as maintained by Spamhaus and Spamcop), which means we can't do legitimate business with other companies whose mail servers've blacklisted us. Which, in turn, lead to loss of income.

[maeztro]

You are receiving this mail because you have dealings with or have dealt with Yellow Box in the past. If you feel you have received this mail in error, kindly delete the email and accept our sincerest apologies. Also please click on this UNSUBSCRIBE link or just drop us a mail.

[D3x]

Some more spam.

Hello Xxxxxxx ,
Do you require any quality marketing database reaching
• Software Developers
• IT Managers, VP Information Technology
• CIO/CTOs
• Network/System Administrators
• Systems and Security decision makers

We can deliver you leads of the above mentioned decision makers with their direct work place email address. Leads delivered with unlimited usage license and 3rd party subscription guarantee. Invest for 1 time and use the data for unlimited marketing needs.

Our delivery and accuracy guarantee stands 90% and any bounces or invalid contacts are provided with free replacement.
What fields are available with the database?
The entire delivered file will have all of the following field names (no null fields) - First Name, Last Name, Title, Company, Direct Email, Telephone, Mailing Address, City, State, Zip Code, Employee Size, Revenue, Industry type and Website URL.
What is the cost for purchasing the data?
We are currently offering the records for 0.02 cents per record for all purchase above 250K records. Anything below will be charged between 0.07 to 0.05 cents per record.
Do I have any minimum limit?
Unlike other marketing companies we do not have any maximum of minimum purchase limit, you can purchase records for as low are $250 to begin with.
Please reply back to this email for more details and pricing and sample records.
Thank you,

Warm Regards,
Sean Watkins
Sales Coordinator
Best Marketing Solutions Inc

I have an Android device & the call & sms blocking apps are plentiful. My life has become less interupted for sure.

[Hemps]

I have an Android device & the call & sms blocking apps are plentiful. My life has become less interupted for sure.

Also been getting this annoying krap, what software you recommend?

[entrepr]

Do you trust a guy who spams you with a message selling you databases that claim to be 'opt-in'. Go figure.

...
We will then forward you a quote based on your quantity required and if you are happy we will provide you with an invoice and banking details.

Let me know and we can take it from there.


Kind regards,
Ashley John de Melo
Beziflash Solutions
079 719 0461

[entrepr]

I have an Android device & the call & sms blocking apps are plentiful. My life has become less interupted for sure.

Anything for blackberry or apple?