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dangonay · 08-09-2011, 08:58 PM

Saw that CTV article. I call BS on the comments made by the Wireless Comm Ass. In my wife's case I went back to the websites she visited and found the offending one. You don't have to sign up twice - one click does it. And although they do mention receiving text messages, they're very vague about the number and cost. And, of course, it's definitely not posted up anywhere obvious. Maybe it requires two steps now, but when it happened to us it sure didn't.

Not only that, but there's no verification. Using this website I could have used the phone numbers of all my friends and signed them up. How can you legally sign up for something without proving your identity?

I LOL'd when they said it's ethical. So charging someone $20 for a stupid text message saying something like "Did you know honeybees pollenate flowers?" is ethical? This association basically sticks up for providers while pretending to help consumers.

And seriously, can anyone think of any single valid reason why someone would EVER want to pay money to receive some random fact as a text? Or that ANY type of text message would actually be worth paying for? If you can, I'll buy you a beer.

The wireless providers are in bed with these guys because they make money on it. They know it's shady, but they're not going to put a stop to it when it's making them cash. If they didn't offer the ability for a company to charge a person for a text (and have the tracking/billing system in place they they would have had to develop), then these scams would never happen.

I'd LOVE for a provider to explain the benefits of such a system and if they have ANY clients that use it for something legitimate.

EDITED: Damn, comments are closed for the story. Too bad, I was going to ask the providers to show a legitimate use for this feature.

08-09-2011, 08:58 PM	#17
dangonay Ready to be Man handled by RS! Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Burnaby Posts: 1,798 Thanked 1,502 Times in 506 Posts Failed 418 Times in 151 Posts	Saw that CTV article. I call BS on the comments made by the Wireless Comm Ass. In my wife's case I went back to the websites she visited and found the offending one. You don't have to sign up twice - one click does it. And although they do mention receiving text messages, they're very vague about the number and cost. And, of course, it's definitely not posted up anywhere obvious. Maybe it requires two steps now, but when it happened to us it sure didn't. Not only that, but there's no verification. Using this website I could have used the phone numbers of all my friends and signed them up. How can you legally sign up for something without proving your identity? I LOL'd when they said it's ethical. So charging someone $20 for a stupid text message saying something like "Did you know honeybees pollenate flowers?" is ethical? This association basically sticks up for providers while pretending to help consumers. And seriously, can anyone think of any single valid reason why someone would EVER want to pay money to receive some random fact as a text? Or that ANY type of text message would actually be worth paying for? If you can, I'll buy you a beer. The wireless providers are in bed with these guys because they make money on it. They know it's shady, but they're not going to put a stop to it when it's making them cash. If they didn't offer the ability for a company to charge a person for a text (and have the tracking/billing system in place they they would have had to develop), then these scams would never happen. I'd LOVE for a provider to explain the benefits of such a system and if they have ANY clients that use it for something legitimate. EDITED: Damn, comments are closed for the story. Too bad, I was going to ask the providers to show a legitimate use for this feature.