The Government is being warned that the UK’s multi-million pound mobile marketing industry is being “seriously damaged” by regulators failing to take action against SMS spam – after a DMA study exposed huge confusion over the issue.
The DMA recently held talks with representatives from Ofcom, the Ministry of Justice, Information Commissioner’s Office and Office of Fair Trading to address the issue of identifying who should lead the clampdown.
The move comes as former Home Secretary Jack Straw is calling on the Government to ban so-called “claims farming”, whereby insurance companies sell on the names of people who have had an accident.
There has been a huge increase in claims farming in recent years, and the BBC reports that the Information Commissioner is investigating whether it contravenes data protection legislation. But the main concern has been a rise in SMS spam from firms offering compensation.
A survey into consumer experience of SMS spam, conducted by the DMA and Toluna QuickSurveys, highlighted that 43% of UK mobile phone owners have received one or more SMS spam messages regarding accident claims, debt management or the misselling of personal protection insurance.
Confusion reigns, though, as to who to turn to when they want to make a complaint: 17% said they would complain to their network provider, 20% to Ofcom, 9% to the Office of Fair Trading, 4% to the Ministry of Justice, 3% to the Information Commissioner’s Office, and a massive 46% say they have no idea who they would complain to.
DMA chief of operations Mike Lordan said: “The results of our survey show the public don’t know who to turn to when they want to complain about receiving SMS spam. This is hardly surprising given the fact that regulators have yet to determine which of them is or should be responsible for taking action against it.
“This is obviously causing great frustration for those mobile phone owners who are being plagued by spam, and it’s also causing serious damage to the legitimate mobile marketing industry. If spam is allowed to continue unchecked, then consumers will naturally become hostile to all mobile marketing messages.
“It’s vital that the regulators now take action. We, the DMA, have already offered our expertise to work out a solution to the problem and help the regulatory bodies to step up and take the initiative.”
