Spammers Start Abusing Cell Phones 266
slimyrubber writes "Just when you thought that spam couldnt get any worst, Cell phones are becoming the latest target of electronic junk mail, with a growing number of marketers using text messages to target subscribers. Is cell-phone spam likely to evolve into something that big, something approaching the scale of e-mail spam? Not if you help to kill SMS spam where it starts. Hopefully."
This isn't new (Score:2, Informative)
110 characters (Score:2, Informative)
In the UK... (Score:5, Informative)
Generally of the type "You have a new voicemail, call XXX to listen to it", where XXX is a premium rate number.
Highly, highly irritating - now all we need is a baysian text message filter
Re:SMS is somewhat protected anyway, isn't it? (Score:2, Informative)
We at hong Kong often receive messages from the cellphone providers and are very pissed off by them.. but then for some reasons they disappeared in these few months.
Re:SMS is somewhat protected anyway, isn't it? (Score:3, Informative)
Damn info harvesters (Score:4, Informative)
Re:SMS is somewhat protected anyway, isn't it? (Score:1, Informative)
true, but the percentage of spam email that gets read is much lower than the percentage of people that actually listen to the SMS cell spam...so this way their message gets to more people and in turn has much higher return potential...
theoretically of course...
Re:In the UK... (Score:2, Informative)
ICSTIS [icstis.org.uk]
Preference service [icstis.org.uk]
Stop yer whinging and sign up if you are so worried.
Re:The major problem with SMS spam... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The major problem with SMS spam... (Score:2, Informative)
Maybe the best way to stop spam is to send an email to johnashcroft@doj.gov(I have no idea if this address is real, I just made it up) saying, "Spam funds terrorists, abortion doctors, welfare mothers, and drug addicts"
See how quickly the epedemic ends
Re:Hmm. (Score:4, Informative)
T-Mobile has such an interface on their website so that the only SMSs I get are the ones I asked for in advance.
Re:In the UK... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The major problem with SMS spam... (Score:5, Informative)
"(3) They know where you read it... the positioning system of the GPS/w-cdma networks allow them to track your place..."
Not true in all cases, nor at all times. All the GPS-enabled phones I've seen to date do not automatically broadcast one's position. They do so only when you're making or receiving an actual call. Also, the network itself has to be able to interpret and pass on the GPS data received. If you're hitched into a 'legacy' analog network, or a digital one that has not been updated to handle the e-911 feature set, your phone can spew its position data all it wants to no avail.
I'm not sure how it is for phones other than Motorola and Nokia, but the ones I've seen let you configure the GPS function to transmit position only for 911 calls or for all calls.
Here's the problem: The phones I've played with all come with the locator feature set to "Transmit on all calls" by default, and it takes some digging in the menu tree [mobiledia.com] to find the feature and change it. Hardly anyone actually reads the manual for electronic equipment, let alone digs into the deep menus to play with low-level functions.
Even worse, you can't turn the GPS functionality off altogether because the FCC made its presence mandatory for the new E-911 systems. [compukiss.com]
Re:Hmm. (Score:5, Informative)
From Subpart L - Restrictions on Telephone Solicitation
L. No person may
a. Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice,
i. To any emergency telephone line, including any 911 line and any emergency line of a hospital, medical physician or service office, health care facility, poison control center, or fire protection or law enforcement agency;
ii. To the telephone line of any guest room or patient room of a hospital, health care facility, elderly home, or similar establishment; or
iii. To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call;
(Emphasis mine) This appears to be the law that made calling cell phones illegal, but it seems it is specific to "telephone calls". I would think a good lawyer could argue that they're essentially the same thing though.
Re:Hmm. (Score:1, Informative)
I've actually been surprised by some people who have, although it seems to be primarily younger people who are getting into it (treating it like short emails/instant messages) and of course the sys admins who have scripts send output to their phone.
Because of the cost (I have a flat rate GPRS plan) I usually just use e-mail on my phone, with an occasional message flagged and an indicator sent by SMS as well.
The biggest problems for SMS in the states are 1) recipient (usually) pays some cost, 2) T-Mobile and AT&T are the only companies I know of that have it enabled by default on new plans (last I checked it was an additional cost for Cingular, and Sprint had a short-email service which was incompatible--but this all might have changed), 3) Voice calls outgoing are pretty cheap; because people already paid for them when they pay their monthly dues people see them as 'free' (almost all US plans have a bank of 'minutes' that are deducted from during the month, after which the price for each minute in/out is pretty high) and as my dad points out, it's easier for him and cheaper, to just call and leave a 1 min voice mail than take the time to type out and send a text message.
Then again, my mom has been sending me texts for years now.
glad (Score:2, Informative)
Who in their right mind? (Score:3, Informative)
A service, setup such that as long as your cell phone is on and has service, that can bill you at will seems like the biggest wet dream a phone company could have since they forced leased phones! What incentive at all would they have not to sell the lists of their subscribers to anyone and everyone who wanted them?
I'm sorry, SMS may be neat but when I first got the sales pitch about including it in my service I laughed right in that poor salespersons face. I said if they ever come up with a way that I can deny any SMS message based on who the sender is then I might consider it but until then thanks but no thanks. (She then made a valent pitch about the unlimited service but I think she even knew that it was allready a lost cause.)
Vote with your dollars people. Don't use SMS at all until they make it more intelligent. If I can see who is messaging me I can choose to be charged or not. And if someone fools me and I accept one that I really didn't want, well thems the breaks but it was still my option.