NEW WASP INDUSTRY GUIDELINES
The WASP industry has been taken to task recently about provision of adult content and appropriate protection measures for minors, child pornography, advertising and marketing codes of conduct and privacy. The overall negative perception of the industry has resulted in more and more people loosing trust in service providers. Incidents include amongst others, overpriced SMS rates not being advertised clearly (i.e. R30 per SMS) and users only discovering the cost on their monthly statement.
An industry watchdog, known as WASPA (wireless application service provider association) was launched in August 2004 with the aim of limiting liability in terms of the Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act. In other words, WASPs providing an information system service will now have to be responsible and accountable for its own and third party content provided.
“The Code of Conduct currently being finalized is a comprehensive document developed by WASPA members that will prohibit members of WASPA from sending any unsolicited commercial messages. It also requires WASPs to contractually prohibit their customers from sending spam," says Leon Perlman, Chairman of WASPA.
WASPs are held liable for its’ own original content, but where it acts as a content aggregator or a communications gateway provider, it can avoid liability if it acts in accordance with Chapter 11 of the ECT Act. In order to enjoy the benefits afforded by the ECT Act, WASPs must form an industry association capable of recognition by the Minister of Communications.
Membership criteria include some connection to one or more of the network operators and boast benefits such as;
§ Ability to establish clear and appropriate industry guidelines
§ Option to nominate an industry association as the designated agent
§ A public complaints mechanism managed by people trusted by both WASPs and the public
§ Industry self-regulation – a WASP sector with strong self-regulation is less likely to be subject to external regulation from government and the networks
§ Building public trust by developing advertising guidelines for paid-for content services, or generating more publicity of the SMS marketing guidelines
§ Potential to lobby and represent the WASP industry on matters of mutual interest – legal and regulatory issues that affect WASPs (lobbying as an industry group is usually more effective than individual representations)
As the leader in location based service, Cellfind (Pty) Ltd understands the industry concerns and believes that this association will not only help sway public perceptions about SMS content services, but it will boost the industry standards. “Those fly by night type organisations looking to make quick money will not last in the industry. The public’s trust in WASPs will grow and WASPA will help boost credibility for those honest, transparent organisations.”
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