Report SMS spam says WASPA

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jes

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Report SMS spam says WASPA

Consumers receiving unwanted SMS marketing messages from companies that they have not directly supplied with their cellphone numbers should report the spammer to the Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (WASPA).
 
I also have a BIG problem having to pay a fee to send a STOP sms. If they want to SPAM me, they should offer me a free SMS to unsubscribe.
 
What if they're not WASPA members/subscribers/whatevers?
WASPA can only process complaints lodged against members of WASPA. You can find a complete list of WASPA members here
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AFAIK these aren't the real culprits or am I wrong?
 
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brettwlewis said:
I also have a BIG problem having to pay a fee to send a STOP sms. If they want to SPAM me, they should offer me a free SMS to unsubscribe.
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Free opt out is very unlikely with SMS. It is the networks that are charging you. There is no mechanism for the message sender to make this free.

For this reason, SMS can not work on an opt-out basis (as the ECT ACT, the CPA and the DMA allows). It has to work on an opt-in basis, as required by WASPA (and ISPA for email), and also the new POPI Bill. I would argue that charging a standard rate SMS to opt out is fair, only if you opted in originally.
 
Are the ANC a WASPA member?

I agree with @brettwlewis - its time that the STOP feature was at no cost. I also heard that replying SPAM to some numbers is charged at a premium rate - so a double scam.

However, the caveat here is - just like web based SPAM, do you really want to answer to such an SMS confirming you are a live human being, ready for more of the same? Currently I ignore them or waste my time reporting them to Vodacom (who gives a ####)
 
moer said:
What if they're not WASPA members/subscribers/whatevers?


AFAIK these aren't the real culprits or am I wrong?
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Then you would have to use the legal system. Unfortunately at this stage, the laws work on an opt-out basis. Anyone can send you anything via any medium, until you opt out. So the first step is to find proof that a company did not opt you out, then you can lay a complaint with the National Consumer Commission in terms of the CPA.
 
Cost Conscious said:
Are the ANC a WASPA member?
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Political parties are entitled to communicate with potential voters, even in the absence of any existing relationship: Electoral Act 27 of 2000 section 67 (1) No person may (e) prevent (i) any representative of a party from gaining reasonable access to voters. WASPA would therefore have difficulty enforcing its opt-in/explicit consent requirement on commercial messages in this case.
 
brettwlewis said:
I also have a BIG problem having to pay a fee to send a STOP sms. If they want to SPAM me, they should offer me a free SMS to unsubscribe.
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+1. i keep getting crap from Mr Price.

But i don't want to pay to opt out of their smses.

And i have never given them my number. hell i don't know when was the last time i even bought something there.
 
ProSMS said:
Free opt out is very unlikely with SMS. It is the networks that are charging you. There is no mechanism for the message sender to make this free....
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BS! The reality is reversed charge MOs are not attractive in the industry as the company and not the consumer is paying for it. Such numbers do exist and have so for some time but "lack of interest" is the problem.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
BS! The reality is reversed charge MOs are not attractive in the industry as the company and not the consumer is paying for it. Such numbers do exist and have so for some time but "lack of interest" is the problem.
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Reverse charged MOs are only available on Vodacom. It is charged at 2.5 x the cost of an MT SMS to the WASP. Anybody can maliciously send thousands of messages to a reverse charged shortcode/longcode and it does happen. It introduces an unlimited revenue risk for WASPs.

The only solution is to not allow unsolicited SMS in the first place. If you have never given a business your number, they should not be allowed to SMS you.
 
You can report things, but WASPA takes more than a year to conclude the process in terms of adjudication, fines, resolution etc.
 
Do any of the "guilty" waspa members pay the fines. I reported an SMS to once and was told in an email that VSP is not a WASPA member. So this WASPA organisation does not make sense if the big boys are not forced to belong and the reason for asking about the fines if they aren't enforced then the findings should just be flushed.
 
Ianf1 said:
Do any of the "guilty" waspa members pay the fines. I reported an SMS to once and was told in an email that VSP is not a WASPA member. So this WASPA organisation does not make sense if the big boys are not forced to belong and the reason for asking about the fines if they aren't enforced then the findings should just be flushed.
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Fines are paid. Info on each an every adjudication including whether the fine has been paid or not is available for everyone to see on the WASPA website ( http://www.waspa.org.za/code/search.php ).

VSP would not fall under the jurisdiction of WASPA if they do messaging for Vodacom directly. This would fall under ICASA. If VSP did messaging for any other entity, it would fall under the jurisdiction of WASPA.
 
Lounger said:
You can report things, but WASPA takes more than a year to conclude the process in terms of adjudication, fines, resolution etc.
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Of the last 33 reports published, the oldest was lodged 7 months ago and 16 were lodged in 2011. It takes a while, but not more than a year.
 
ProSMS said:
....The only solution is to not allow unsolicited SMS in the first place. If you have never given a business your number, they should not be allowed to SMS you.
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True but since the largest cause of complaints involves recycled sims, the networks need to first make their recycled sim database open to the industry before this issue will be resolved. I've seen a sim recycled within 8 hours already.
 
ProSMS said:
Fines are paid. Info on each an every adjudication including whether the fine has been paid or not is available for everyone to see on the WASPA website ( http://www.waspa.org.za/code/search.php ).

VSP would not fall under the jurisdiction of WASPA if they do messaging for Vodacom directly. This would fall under ICASA. If VSP did messaging for any other entity, it would fall under the jurisdiction of WASPA.
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@Prosms It is good to hear the fines are paid. The SMS I got was for a car for R799 a month so not a Vodacom SMS, this was all disclosed to WASPA but they said VSP is not a member and referred it back to Vodacom. Vodacom's response was confusing and I still got another exact same SMS after that. Would ICASA be any better than WASPA?
 
The solution to opt out is incredibly simple. The first sms sent should require the recipient to OPT IN.

A non response must be treated as an opt out.

Problem solved.
 
WASPA IMHO is a mostly a load of hot air. Only voluntary WASPA members can be "fined", so if you're going to send bulk sms, chances are you're not going to volunteer for a fine.

Not the least of the problems is that the WASPA board seems to comprise WASP owners - i.e. the very industry that they are supposedly regulating, so you have to question their impartiality - in our experience they seem to be biased against smaller WASPA members who do not have representation on their board. You have to wonder - the head of the WASPA Code of Conduct Committee as quoted in the article is Russel Stromin who owns a mobile sms marketing company himself and the MD of WASPA is also the MD of Integrat. Look at the complaints and adjudication list and note the proportion of complaints against Integrat that have been dismissed compared to other WASPs... Just saying...

Perhaps the most tellling aspect of this sad toothless organisation is that, even though it claims to have been founded with the full support of Vodacom, MTN and CellC, none of these network operators are actually WASPA members so when Vodacom sends their endless Player23 SPAM SMSs there is no recourse. Enough said.
 
Ianf1 said:
@Prosms It is good to hear the fines are paid. The SMS I got was for a car for R799 a month so not a Vodacom SMS, this was all disclosed to WASPA but they said VSP is not a member and referred it back to Vodacom. Vodacom's response was confusing and I still got another exact same SMS after that. Would ICASA be any better than WASPA?
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This is very concerning. VSP is definitely a member of WASPA: http://www.waspa.org.za/members/index.php . I suggest raising this issue with WASPA again (now that you know they are listed as a member on the WASPA website! ).

ICASA would be much worse. I think they are under the impression that for spam, WASPA would deal with it, yet Vodacom has publicly stated that they are not governed by WASPA: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Cellular/11536.html . Expect ICASA to refer you back to WASPA!
 
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