I have this strange urge to go into Daily Mail mode....
String 'em up!!!!!
UK data privacy experts have raided an SMS spam farm blamed for spewing out more than 350,000 nuisance messages to mobiles. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) seized hundreds of SIM cards on Thursday, after raiding a SIM farm in offices in Wolverhampton. Initial estimates suggest the impounded kit could have been used …
I agree, though I knew about it through O2 themselves. When I was getting fed up with the messages I searched to see if there was a "TPS" style thing for spam text and I believe the O2 web site told me to forward the spam to this number. My only complain is that it's still easier to delete than forward the spam and then the number - I'd love an Android SMS app that allows you to "submit as spam" with one action.
I wonder whether they are able to actually check your claim or just run statistical analysis of submissions, and whether there are penalties for false claims...
"When I was getting fed up with the messages I searched to see if there was a "TPS" style thing for spam text and I believe the O2 web site told me to forward the spam to this number."
Similar here, but on Vodafone. The number I use is 87726, though - but I assume it still ends up at the same destination.
"My only complain is that it's still easier to delete than forward the spam and then the number - I'd love an Android SMS app that allows you to "submit as spam" with one action."
Agreed.
Will this be sizeable in realworld terms, or the Ofcom "a few weeks' profits" kind of sizeable?
The fine should be 10x the estimated cost of the time lost by the people they spammed, plus the full cost of the police investigation required to catch them. Also confiscation of all material used in connection with the activity, including the premises.
Yep, true. I tend to assume it's only men that commit this sort of thing but it's totally unfounded and I admit it... My point is that wrist slaps get us no where and this country is, IMO which is not so humble, very soft on crime and especially on nuisance.
How about a luxurious jail cell with thick carpeting, many layers of bedding, and beautiful water fountains. This lush environment is also infested with bedbugs, fleas, and mosquitoes. Should the spammer not wish be bitten, he/she may opt-out of future bites from each insect by crushing it. Good luck.
Wrote :- "The fine should be 10x the estimated cost of the time lost by the people they spammed, plus the full cost of the police investigation"
Agreed, an order of magnitude with these financial crimes. At one time, on my daily walk to work through central London, there was a side street with cars on double yellow lines everywhere, the same cars every day. On average, once a week they would all have tickets slapped on them, but they'd still be there next day. Clearly the owners regarded the fines as a reasonable parking charge - in fact the fine was less than the charge at nearby car parks. The fine would have needed to be five times the cost of a car park just to level things on average.
So the ICO can give a good kick in the profit margins to a company sending out 350k electronic spam messages, how come OFCOM (or somebody else) can't do the same to BT / Virgin / Sky etc for posting about the same amount of unwanted marketing material through my front door. If anything the fine should be larger because at least electronic spam is more environmentally friendly, ask a forest near you. I assume the electronic "marketing material" is no more inaccurate than the printed "marketing material" or if it is they should at least recoup some of the fine when the next Booker prize is given out.
Different company, same story here. Used to call them and say I want to sign up for the super deluxe with extra bells service. When they finally get to checking and say it's not available in my area I'd tell them I wanted to be compensated for them wasting my time by sending me offers for stuff they can't deliver. That go them to take my name/address off the spam list.
You were doing really well until the "ask a forest near you" statement. Paper doesn't come from forests, it comes from the wood of pulp trees grown on tree farms, at least here in the States. Renewable and doesn't touch the old growth stuff which for the most part is unsuitable for making paper.
"So the ICO can give a good kick in the profit margins to a company sending out 350k electronic spam messages, how come OFCOM (or somebody else) can't do the same to BT / Virgin / Sky etc for posting about the same amount of unwanted marketing material through my front door."
The reasoning, I believe, is that electronic SPAM is almost free - as in beer. When a company sends paper, there is a far greater cost - so, they tend to keep it at a minimum.
It is annoying, sure. But You don't get 500 brochures every day, selling pills to grow your... nevermind.
OTOH, I remember one convicted spammer - who got his address leaked. He received, I believe, more than a metric ton* of complains from his "customers". That was fun. :D
* To use an official standard: 238.0952 Jubs