15 posts tagged “prs”

YouTube and PRS (not to be confused with er, PRS) have failed to come to an agreement over royalties paid for music videos that are on the video sharing/hosting site.  Because of this, Google-owned YouTube will be blocking access to UK users of music video.

BBC: YouTube to block UK music videos
Guardian: Google and PRS in deadlock as music videos pulled from YouTube
Reuters: YouTube to block music videos for UK users

I am the Investigations Executive charged with the running of this investigation. As Paul Whiteing has indicated in his email below, during the current investigation PhonepayPlus has never at any stage dealt with Spread Media Limited. A thorough investigation into the activities of all parties to the value chain – mBlox Limited and Spread Mobile Services Limited – has been undertaken.

 

If you have been informed that your complaint is with ‘Spread Media’ then that is indeed incorrect.

 

When investigations arise in any circumstances the Executive is careful to review the complaint’s history, timeline, along with facts relating to service operation and the parties operating it. Where it is appropriate the Executive makes full use of its powers under paragraph 8.9.3 of the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice 11^th Edition (amended April 2008) in relation to potential failures to comply with previous sanctions imposed. This case was processed in the usual manner following the Standard Procedure, and at no time did the Executive consider the evidence justified using these powers.

 

The case will come before the Code Compliance Panel sitting in Tribunal on 2^nd April 2009. As a complainant you will be kept fully informed of the adjudication decision, which will be published on the website in the usual way.

 

David Levitt

Investigations Executive

A certain English police force (I won't name them as they may not wish for me to do so) has taken an interest in some of what I myself uncovered about a person involved in a dodgy PRS* scheme.  Had four hits from them yesterday and it was clear what and who they were interested in.

Was it just a member of staff that had been sent unsolicited 'adult' texts (at a whopping £1.50 a pop)?  Or is it part of a proper bona fide investigation to the gentleman and the companies he has run?  Hmmm.

*Premium Rate Service (ie premium-rate reverse charged SMS texts)

I'm often quite sceptical and negative about a whole array of things and at times not willing to give the benefit of the doubt.  It's not the best character trait to have, although it can prove handy in some areas, sometimes.  I'm also quite adept at not making myself clear on occasion, but hey, that's just human, right?

Enough of my waffling, and onto my post...

Back in September I wrote a post about charities using premium rate reverse-message billing.  Here it is if you want to click through: Charity Fundraising using Premium Rate Phone-paid Services... In it I advised people to avoid giving to charity via text message (crikey, that reminds me... I have to sponsor a friend that's doing the London Marathon this year!) The reason I advised folk not to give in this way wasn't because I didn't trust the companies that worked on behalf of the charities, but because I didn't trust the rest of the companies involved in the industry.

I've made that as clear as mud, haven't I?  Sorry, I'm a bit hazy at the moment, still got the remnants of a Xmas bug methinks!

I've previously recommended that people avoid all premium rate services wherever possible.  It wasn't because I thought there weren't any companies in the industry that could be trusted.  No, it was because using any shortcodes, even those from reputable companies, makes it that much harder to spot fraudulent unsolicited messages and to prove you haven't inadvertently subscribed to some service or other unwittingly.  If the regulator, PhonepayPlus, had some cajones I would have more confidence in premium services being put to good use.

Now, the reason for this post...

I received an email from Roger Craven regarding the above hyperlinked post.  Roger is the CEO of Vir2 and I both linked to, and quoted some, of his blog post in that September post of mine.  Depending how my post is read, it's possible to come to the conclusion that I believe Roger is talking matsushita and that I'm tarring him with the same brush as the less savoury elements in the industry...

If anyone has come to that conclusion, let me set the record straight - Roger is one of the good guys.  In fact, he is actively seeking changes into how charity shortcodes work, including having a range that would be reserved for charities.  That way people can easily tell what is what.  I'm wishing him every success with that as it'll most likely be an uphill struggle.

Anyway, that's all for now in regards to PRS, but it reminds me I have a part two on my experiences to finish off for Mobile Industry Review... 

Just read this over at NWA NMA...

'The Sun drops ads for premium-rate adult services

Adult ads putting off other advertisers, it fears, while sector moves to eliminate dodgy premium rate service providers.'

Actually, this seems to be two different stories for the price of one.  Bonus!  The Sun dropping those ads probably has less to do with dodgy premium rate services providers than one would think.  Open up a local rag these days and there's a page or two of thinly veiled adverts for prostitutes.  The kind of guy that's willing to pay £1.50 (or so a minute) for chat has probably realised he can get a lot more than chat for around the same money.  I presume because of this the revenues for the PRSs has dropped significantly enough that it makes no sense to advertise in a national paper.

Or, perhaps, even fools who think it's a great idea to waste vast sums of money on adult chatlines have realised that in the current economic climate it's not a good investment?

Now to the story within a story...

Apparently the industry's largest aggregators are about to wipe out unscrupulous PRS promoters.  Really?  Sounds too good to be true!  Why are they only bothering now?  Oh, and what do they deem unscrupulous... targetting at kids?  Unsolicited messages?  Messages containing dishonest information?  Sneaky subscriptions?  Hmm...

Have a butcher's at what Sally Weatherall from Aime said regarding PhonepayPlus.  Go on, it's worth a giggle.

From what I've read and heard about PhoneBrain's latest initiative, this disclaimer would appear to be at odds:

Not intended, eh?

PP+ (PhonepayPlus, the regulator behind PhoneBrain) is, quite clearly, encouraging children to use PRS (premium rate services) with their lesson plans for teachers and the general content of their site.  If telling kids that PRS is good for the economy, not to believe any negative media stories and giving over whole lessons to ringtone creation isn't encouragement, I don't know what is.

You've gotta love the interweb and folk like del hombre 'El Gringo' over at The Scream's forums.  He not only dug deep, but presented the evidence well.

I thoroughly recommend checking it out: Mobile Privacy Service: £1.50 con to use TPS - That's the service run by scammers who themselves send out unsolicited crap (mostly of an 'adult' nature and often without any indication it's a premium message from a company, not a person).

Shockingly craptacular article from BBC's Newsbeat team here: Mobile ringtone subscription warning (although it may be worth keeping an eye out on News Sniffer as it'll probably change).

Teenagers are being warned about the dangers of pricey subscription deals, by a mobile phone watchdog.

Are they?  Where?  What about those 12 and under, isn't it worth warning them?

According to PhonepayPlus, complaints about are running at 1,700 a month.

Remember folks, this is just the people that know who to complain to and have taken the time and effort to do so.

Simon Bates, from PhonepayPlus, said: "We're getting complaints every month from people having problems buying things with their phone."

Buying things?  I'm having problems with companies charging me for things I never bought.  Might want to warn the teenagers about that, eh?

They say biggest issue is with subscription deals where people think they've bought one ringtone but money is taken out every month.

Well Bate's should do something about it then.  Don't be reactive, be pro-active.  The 'watchdog' is made up of the exact same folk that run these services, it would be very easy to get rid of these dodgy subscriptions for wallpapers/ringtones overnight.

Craig from Birmingham says he was losing £12 a month in extra charges.

Not to mention the numerous calls he had to make to various 0871/0845 numbers and the time and effort he no doubt put in to (hopefully) get his money back.

He said: "I'm a bit angry at it, just at the fact that this particular company are taking my money for something that I only asked for once and they seem to be taking it, like, eight times a month."

Name and shame them 'Craig from Birmingham'.  I'll help you if you want?  Just text me on my shortcode, it's just 150p/m T&Cs apply (just kidding, email me!)

Phonepay Plus is urging 4,300 secondary schools to join a scheme to raise awareness among pupils of the potential pitfalls.

What is this wonderful scheme?  Please, please tell me more!  Anyway, kids - listen up!  Don't ever buy a ringtone or a wallpaper.  Never, ever, ever.  Seriously, what's the point?  You guys are of a generation that are more cynical than every before (kudos to you!) and yet some of you are willing to pay £1.50 for a crappy jpeg or something that vaguely sounds like a TV character you like?  C'mon, that's nuts!

This new scheme will warn teenagers to look out at the small print

Small print, schmall print.  There are few in the PRS business that aren't shifty mofos, I wouldn't trust their small print any more than I trust some guy in the street to look after my wallet.

I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll leave it to The Inq to explain (that was where I read it after all!)

The Register: Bizarre bug in Nokia Maps unearthed

I've had so many governmental agencies (on both sides of the pond), law firms, PR companies, network operators and now risk management looking at my premium rate scam posts that I've lost count.

Hi guys!  Good afternoon.  Maybe if we had proper regulation and decent laws there would be no risk to manage, eh?