Tired of receiving irritating e-mails trying to sell you Viagra, university degrees based on your working experience or defrauding you through a claim that you have won an internet lottery or millions of dollars sitting pretty in a bank account in Africa?
We have all come to accept that these spam e-mails are part of our digital life and we know how to spot one. However i-Tech readers have started complaining to this newspaper about a new wave of spam, this time on their mobile phones.
In recent months i-Tech has received a number of complaints that Maltese mobile phone users are receiving an increasing number of SMS promoting local business activities and some international ‘lottery’-type scam.
The Maltese have an above-average use of SMS, which was introduced 10 years ago, when compared to other European users. The latest statistics by the National Statistics Office show that between January and September last year the Maltese sent 144,169,574 SMS, up 9.3 per cent from the same period the previous year.
It seems the potential of SMS is still very strong and this has attracted the attention of local business organisations who feel they can tap into it despite the rise of the smartphone and the use of data and internet access over mobile devices.
The sending of an electronic communication (including SMSs) for the purpose of direct marketing is regulated by Maltese law and falls under the responsibility of the Data Protection Commissioner.
“Such regulation provides that no person shall cause the sending of such communication without having sought the prior consent of the intended recipient provided that the contact details were not collected in relation to an earlier sale of a product or service. In this eventuality, the electronic communication shall solely promote a product or service, similar to the one previously sold or rendered,” Ian Deguara, the head of the technical unit in the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, told i-Tech.
Mr Deguara added that the sender must ensure that the recipient shall always be given the opportunity to object, free of charge and in an easy and simple manner, from receiving further marketing electronic communications. It is imperative that the opt-out clause is included in each and every outgoing message.
However almost all the marketing SMS seen by i-Tech do not disclose any opt-out opportunities within the 160 characters that define the length of an SMS.
“Any recipient, who feels that he/she has never had any form of relationship with the sender, is free to contact such sender and request to have his/her contact details deleted from the database immediately. Concurrently, the recipient may also lodge a complaint with this Office which will be duly investigated. Any organisation, entity, network provider or individual providing such services must ensure that the processing is strictly undertaken within the parameters of the aforementioned regulation. It is also imperative to note that mobile numbers shall be processed in a fair and legitimate manner and also that the disguising or concealing of the sender’s identity is prohibited by law,” reassured Mr Deguara.
Once again, some of the marketing SMS seen by i-Tech do not clearly state the name of the company sending the promotional material.
The Maltese legislation empowers the Data Protection Commissioner to investigate cases of privacy breaches within the boundaries of the Maltese jurisdiction. This means that the law applies to marketing communications which originate from a mobile number registered in Malta, in case of a short message service. However in cases of unsolicited communications originating from other EU member states, such as the ‘lottery’ SMS, the Maltese Data Protection Office can assist the receiving person in the resolution of the complaint through the collaboration mechanism established amongst our European counterparts.
i-Tech sought the views of the three national mobile operators on this issue.
“Vodafone is against spam and when possible we try to do our best to stop spam over mobile,” reassured Charlo Callus, mobile advertising senior executive at Malta’s largest mobile operator. While he confirmed that the operator does provide a service for third parties to transmit bulk SMS over its network, he insisted that “the third party is solely responsible for adhering to the relevant data protection legislation. Third parties have the sole responsibility to obtain the prior consent of the customers who want to receive the SMSs. If the customers do not give their consent, then the third parties should not send such SMSs to them. Vodafone can only ‘stop’ those SMSs which are being sent by it or by third parties from Vodafone’s network.”
Vodafone clients can be removed from SMS mailing lists by calling the company or sending an SMS to 50915775 free of charge.
A Go spokesman said the company is not in a position to proactively filter the content being sent, or to determine whether an SMS sent by one party to another is being sent with the recipient’s consent. However, in the case of its own SMS advertising (i.e. promotion of Go services) it seeks the customer’s consent before sending and customers can opt out anytime.
While Go confirmed it offers bulk SMS facilities for third parties, it insisted that it has no control over third party advertisers, however advertisers are contractually obliged to provide an opt-out to mobile users.
“Go adheres to the Data Protection Act and does not provide customer details to any third party under any circumstance, except to law enforcement authorities if legally obliged to do so. Third parties sending bulk SMS compile their own list of numbers usually through direct interaction with the customer, and are contractually obliged to send SMS adverts only to those customers that have explicitly given their consent to receive advertising messages.”
Contrary to the other two operators, Melita does not offer bulk SMS service to third party entities or SMS promotions on behalf of other entities. At this point in time, communications are limited to services related to Melita itself and which are relevant to those particular customers.
A company spokesman explained: “Should Melita allow such service in future, it would clearly require the customers consent to receiving promotional messages. With regards to Melita promotions or updates, customers can ask to have their number placed on a ‘block’ list whereby promotional messages are filtered completely.”