SMS Spam: More Action Required

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has come up with yet another formula to keep a check on the pesky SMSs. After a series of ineffective measures, this time the regulatory body has decided to impose a price restraint on sending more than one-hundred SMSs per-day-per-SIM.

According to the new rules, operators will have to charge a minimum of 50 paise for SMSs exceeding 100 from a single SIM. New subscribers are also asked to sign off in the Customer Acquisition Form that they shall not use the connection for telemarketing purpose and if they do, their connection shall be liable for disconnection.

Telcos have 15 days to implement this.

While efforts have been taken in the right direction, experts feel that more stringent measures are required to meet the objective.

"Is it really a policy issue? I don't think so. We also have an option to register for Do-Not-Disturb (DND), but still many users complain of getting telemarketing calls and SMSs regularly. What is required is the willingness from operators to implement the directives strictly. They [operators] need to make their network intelligent enough to consider it a spam," says Katyayan Gupta, analyst at Forrester Research Inc.

Time for stricter laws
Taking a cue from the global market, the government has made it easier for subscribers to lodge complaints about spam SMSs by simply forwarding the Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) SMS to 1909 after appending the telephone number and date of receipt of the SMS.

In USA, many carriers such as AT&T Inc., T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless allow subscribers to report spam by forwarding spam messages to the short-code 7726.

Government has also directed access providers to establish a web-based complaint-registering-system, including a dedicated email address, to receive complaints on UCC.

But, just setting up a complaint system will not be effective in the long run. It is also critical to introduce strict laws against offenders, if the government is serious about the issue. In many jurisdictions globally, SMS spam is considered to be as illegal as trespassing and under the law, violators can face substantial penalty in monetary terms.

"We are just lacking the practical approach. India does not have an anti-spam law. DND directory has been a failed experiment. Consumer protection act is still silent on addressing the grievances of digital subscribers, spamming is not recognized as an offense and certain cyber-crime categories are not included in the country's IT Act. Unless and until the government shows its willingness to take proactive measures, mobile users will continue to suffer," states Pavan Duggal, a renowned Cyber Law expert.

Clearly, the country needs strong commitment from operators and the government to address the seriousness of the issue. Nevertheless, the directive may help mobile subscribers to find short-term relief from spammers.

Jatinder Singh, Principal Correspondent, Light Reading India