back to article GSMA trials spam snitch scheme

The GSMA is piloting a scheme allowing GSM users to report SMS spam to a standard short code, in the hope of stopping the trickle before it becomes a flood. The pilot will be offered to customers of AT&T, Korea Telecom and SFR, who will be able to forward spam texts to short code 7726 (T9 for "SPAM"), except where that's not …

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  1. Jacqui Smith's DVD Collection!

    Vodafone

    Vodafone also have the VSPAM system...

  2. Harry

    Reporting isn't the answer (yet)

    What's needed first is international technical and logistical measures that can ensure the true origin of any call or message can be reliably and undisputably determined. For example, the sending telco could be required to positively validate their customers and embed a unique ID identifying both the sending telco and the individual call. The receiving telco should then be required to exchange a further data packet with the claimed sender's telco, to double check that the claimed and actual sending telco are both the same, before connecting or delivering to the final recipient. Only then may they connect to the intended recipient

    Next is needed international agreement to exempt the receiving telco from the obligation to connect or deliver calls where a statistically significant number of complaints have been received against calls using that ID (or, in extreme cases, where the sending telco appears to be allowing a sender to spam using plural IDs).

    Only then does a reporting code become useful -- and the processing mechanism should be able to block such calls within a matter of hours or even minutes of receiving sufficient reports against messages from the same origin.

    1. jackharrer

      But...

      Do you expect telcos to pay for that or governments?

      Anyway, in both ways, we, us customers, are screwed. They don't care, as long as people don't complaint too much and it doesn't hurt the bottom line.

  3. Steven Hunter
    Stop

    Easier and better fix

    Instead of setting up ridiculous filtering systems (or whatever they plan to do with these messages) how about this better and easier fix?

    Make my SIM chip only receive text messages from a specific whitelist of other mobile users. This would effectively eliminate the problem of SMS SPAM overnight. If the spammer can't reach people by *default* then there's simply no market.

    Frankly I don't know why any text messaging system was ever setup any other way. Then again as an American I don't understand how in God's name our phone companies get away with charging 20¢ per message (sending *and* receiving).

    Oh, wait... *sigh*

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