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Latest NewsYou have the right to know what you are signing up to - at last. Good news for parents and mobile users in the family! New legislation has been created to cover mobile premium services. Mobile premium services, such as ring tones, music, games, competitions, sports scores and horoscopes, are delivered to a mobile phone for a higher cost than regular short message services (SMS). The code was developed by the telecommunications industry and is part of a package of measures taken by the Australian Communications and Media Authority to protect the consumers of mobile premium services. 'The new code addresses one of the key concerns about mobile premium services the fact that many consumers claim that they did not knowingly subscribe to a service,' Ms O'Donnell, the Telecommunications Ombudsman, said. 'A fundamental principle of any fair transaction between a customer and a service provider is for the consumer to understand the nature of the contract they have entered. 'Under the new code, consumers will need to give two independent confirmations of a request a double opt-in - before they can subscribe to an ongoing premium SMS service. 'It also outlines strict rules about how advertisements and charges are displayed and by July next year under the measures outlined by ACMA - all providers must allow consumers to bar access to these services.' Did you know? The TIO received 3960 complaints about mobile premium services in the March quarter, a slight increase on the 3789 complaints received in the December quarter, but a significant drop from the 5125 received in the June 2008 quarter. To read the full media release please click here. In our last issue of the parents' enewsletter, we did a full 'Watch out for Scams' story - click here to view. Just remember:
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To find out more about scams, please visit: http://www.fido.gov.au/fido/fido.nsf |
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